Entain Calls Out Government Inaction, Encourages Unlicensed Gambling Sponsorship Ban

Entain has renewed its calls for a ban on unlicensed gambling sponsorships in UK sports, citing concerns about the risks such deals pose to local players and the broader gaming ecosystem. This is not the first time Entain has issued such a call-to-action either. Unlicensed Gambling Sponsorships Are Becoming More Common Entain’s request to end all unlicensed gambling sponsorship in British sports comes shortly after certain Premier League clubs formed new agreements with gambling companies that do not possess the necessary license to operate in the UK. This is not a new practice either, since clubs are known to often ink deals with such parties. Entain claims that, as of the time of this writing, 11 of 20 Premier League clubs have some arrangements with unlicensed gaming entities. To put things into perspective, this marks an increase from the previous season when only eight clubs boasted such deals. One of the latest clubs to pen such a deal was Sunderland, which just announced a multi-year partnership with centralized crypto casino and sports betting platform Shuffle, replacing LiveScore Bet as the club’s gaming partner. For reference, Shuffle does not possess a UK license. Earlier this year, Everton signed a deal with Stake, one of the leading offshore gaming companies. Entain is not the only party to push for a ban on unlicensed gambling sponsorship and responds to a recent DCMS consultation on the matter. Entain Says the Crackdown Should Cover the Online Space as Well Entain’s chief executive officer, Stella David, commented on the matter, highlighting the fact that more and more Premier League clubs are forming partnerships with unlicensed gaming companies. She pointed out that the government had previously promised to address this matter posthaste, which ultimately didn’t happen. David acknowledged that enacting a ban on unlicensed sponsorships with immediate effect would inconvenience soccer clubs, but argued that “inconvenience is not an excuse for inaction.” To top it all off, research conducted by Entain previously suggested that four in five consumers “cannot confidently distinguish licensed operators from unlicensed.” On top of that, unlicensed operators do not play by the rules and rarely offer reliable protections. Entain’s David emphasized that this is why the government should take the matter very seriously. In her address, David asserted that the ban should also extend to the digital advertising of unlicensed gaming products. Earlier this year, a BGC study suggested that unlicensed gambling is growing in prevalence. In fact, Entain’s research showed that roughly a fifth of all consumers who use unlicensed operators learned of their platforms through social media ads. Because of this, David argued that restricting the ban to physical advertising will simply cause illegal operators to double down on their online presence.