Do Premier League Sponsors Exploit White Label Gambling Licences?
We all know that football and betting seem to have become hand-in-hand companions. Whenever you watch a football match, advertisements for betting companies are there. This includes on the kits of players, around the stadiums and advertised on TV. Of course, pre-watershed adverts for gambling are no longer allowed. Yet it doesn’t make gambling any the less present when football games are active.
Some campaigners have made moves to try and have changes made to the UK legislation. While at one point, this looked like it would be a likelihood, now it’s not so clear. Instead, there may be a vote on banning such gambling logos from the front of player kits. Yet other forms of advertising may remain prominent.
It stands to reason that they wouldn’t want to lose out on the sponsorship, too. Gambling companies sponsoring Premier League teams means big money for both. For the 2022/23 season, more shirts feature gambling company logos than any other business. Over the years, companies have become very aware of the power in such deals.
It means global advertising, considering Premier League teams travel the world for games. As a result, these betting brands get to appear in new markets, such as Asia. Even though gambling is illegal in many Asian locations, this makes little difference.
Yet there is a question of how they can do this. Some have pointed to the fact that white label licences may be the route taken. Is it possible then that sponsors of Premier League teams are exploiting these?
What is a White Label Licence?
If you know anything about Premier League teams, you’ll have seen their sponsors. Dafabet sponsors the Bournemouth team. SBOTOP has a deal with Leeds United. Sportsbet.io has a unison with Southampton. Various others also exist. Yet how much do you actually know about these brands? The likelihood is that you don’t know of anyone who places sports bets with them, right?
Stake.com for Everton, W88 for Fulham and Fun88 with Newcastle are exactly the same. What’s more, visiting any of these sites provides you with a similar sort of experience. They all look very alike. The reason behind that is because they are all operated by one and the same brand – TGP Europe. Only Dafabet is the odd one out, which comes under the ownership of Vivaro Limited.
TGP Europe is the company that holds the official gambling licence from the UK Gambling Commission. It is then able to rent out the rights to this licence for various gambling brands. It is this that operates as a white label agreement. It’s a popular operating model for the British market. Over 700 white label partners operate within the industry already. Through it, global exposure to an operator’s products is much more likely. What company wouldn’t go for such a deal if it saves them applying and paying out for a standard licence?
A licence is, of course, necessary to be able to advertise in the UK. White label agreements are a way for brands to get around that law. To put it simpler, a company pays a sort of rent to the licence holder instead. This gives them access to the UK market, and in turn, to forge deals with the Premier League. The primary division of the EFL has a huge global appeal, as everyone knows. Thus, if a gambling company logo is on a kit, it also gains a certain level of global coverage.
Because this arrangement means they don’t have to apply for a full licence, it acts as a loophole. Yet at the same time, these operators don’t have to fulfil any criteria set out by the Commission. As long as the licence-holder is doing so, the white label brands aren’t an issue.
“That means they can access Asian markets where online gambling and gambling advertising is illegal. People then become aware of those brands and search for them after seeing them on TV”, said Matt Zarb-Cousin, Clean Up Gambling campaign manager.
Will Changes to the Gambling Act Stop This?
When asked about the white label deals, a spokesperson for the Commission spoke up. They told the BBC that both white label deals and sports sponsorship are under consideration for changes. This, they said, was all part of the review of the Gambling Act 2005.
“We are very clear that responsibility for compliance sits with the licence holder and cannot be transferred to any other party”, he said. It was then noted that a failure in controlling those third parties could result in regulatory action. This includes suspension or even loss of the gambling licence.
In many Asian locations, gambling has been illegal for a long time. In China, for example, this has been the case since 1949 when it became a communist country. The country’s leading party saw it as something of a “decadent capitalist practice”. According to Dr. Jonathan Sullivan, the party believed gambling to disempower working power. Yet now the country has become more of a “socialist economy”, the China specialist says. As a result, certain loopholes have appeared. This includes land-based casinos in the administrative region of Macau.
A state lottery has also been operating since 1987. Meanwhile, the sports lottery began selling tickets in 1994. Yet sports betting itself remains an illegal activity within China. Because of this, a variety of sites based offshore target the country’s gamblers. There is a large appetite for gambling there, and these foreign-based brands want the custom. Sports betting on the English Premier League is one of the most popular wants in China. Of all countries worldwide, China is the country with the biggest viewership of such.
Terrestrial TV airs Premier League matches for free in China. A vast amount of coverage and interest is present in the games. Thus, spectators are able to see sponsors on football kits. Some of the logos even include Chinese writing, bringing even more appeal. Chinese people can’t have a stroll down to a betting shop to wager, though. Instead, they need to find an offshore online sportsbook to do so. While they are still illegal by law, Chinese people are able to access the sites via a VPN.
Gambling companies cannot operate from within China’s borders. Gambling advertisement is also not possible in the country. So, betting firms need a way to circumnavigate the laws to get their sites noticed. “What better way than by advertising on the very shirts that the teams are wearing…?”, questions Dr. Sullivan.
White Labels Provide Cheap Access to New Markets
In most instances, the white label deals aren’t so that the betting brands gain access to the UK market. It is, in fact, minimally for this. Instead, it is a way for them to exploit such possibilities and advertise their services elsewhere. Thanks to the burgeoning markets in other countries, these sports brands want a share. The football clubs get vast influxes of money. The sportsbooks get the chance to advertise and may end up with new bettors using their sites. This brings them money in, and that continues the circle.
In January of this year, Aston Villa announced it had signed a deal with a betting brand. The BK8 company was their choice of shirt sponsor for the 2023-24 season. Yet there was a massive uproar from the team’s fans. Despite this, the club said the deal would go ahead, as it is in need of the money from it.
BK8 entered into a deal with Norwich City for the 2021-22 season before this. Yet the team cancelled the arrangement after various explicit BK8 ads came to light. Villa wasn’t dissuaded from doing so though, and released a statement saying:
“The commercial reality is that to teams outside the top six, such sponsors offer clubs twice as much as non-gambling companies.”
While the top six in the Premier League don’t have gambling shirt sponsors, they do have betting partners. This means that Asian viewers will still be able to see advertisements from such in the stadiums. Those teams include Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Liverpool and Tottenham.
Estimates from Statista suggest that shirt sponsorship amounted to around £350 million in the 2019 – 20 season. This, Zarb-Cousin said, makes such deals appear like a “cash cow” for football clubs.
“The Premier League is being used to facilitate illegal gambling in jurisdictions where gambling is illegal – that’s a problem for its global brand”, he commented.
He went on to note how it’s also affecting children in the UK. They see the word ‘bet’ on shirts and that creates a connection in their minds. It matters not whether the site is accessible to UK customers, he says. Children are still associating football with betting this way.
Even if the sites are accessible to UK customers, it’s not this market they’re focusing on. The operators of such don’t want UK bettors signing up as much as they do others. Instead, they have set up white label sites via the UK-licensed operator to gain access to other countries. The websites they provide are often of a low quality, providing a very generic setup. Yet because people in places like China have little choice, they utilise these sites. The number of people wanting to gamble in Asia is immense. Their money goes to the white label brands, which use it to sponsor football clubs, and so on.
A vicious circle? Most definitely. Yet as long as the white label deals are possible, these brands will keep utilising them. As long as the licence-holder obeys all rules and regulations, there is nothing wrong in the law’s eyes.
Whether the upcoming white paper on gambling reform does make changes to such, we’ll see. It has gone through so many delays that many are questioning whether it will actually arrive. Many sectors within the gambling scene are awaiting its publication. There is little doubt that white label brands and football sponsors are a part of that group.
