Bookmakers will not abandon football due to the Premier League ban

Monday 24 November 2025 13.07

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West Ham’s shirt sponsor has assured the Premier League that the gambling industry will not run away from football after a ban on betting partners comes into force next year.

England’s leading clubs have chosen to voluntarily ban gambling sponsors as major partners in a move that will come into effect at the start of next season.

More than half of the 20 teams in the top division have major sponsorship deals with betting companies and will be forced to swap them for alternatives.

But Vlad Kaltenieks, CEO of BoyleSports, said AM City that the ban will not drive bookmakers away from football.

He said: “We’re very happy to be part of the ecosystem. We’re all capable of doing that in a responsible way, and we welcome what the Premier League is doing in this regard, I think they have their reasons for implementing the ban.”

Kaltenieks said he was in talks with West Ham about the future of their partnership, but said the ban “leaves us in a position where we really need to think creatively about what happens next because the opportunities are limited”.

“There really isn’t much prime estate that we can use to show who we are,” he added. “The partnership with West Ham is one of the opportunities we had to shout about loudly before the ban came into force.”

Gambling companies can still take action

This voluntary ban does not stop betting and gambling companies from taking secondary shirt positions such as sleeves – nor does it prohibit clubs from agreeing stadium naming rights deals with these companies.

Kaltenieks believes that tech companies are the ones most likely to replace bookmakers as shirt sponsors, and adds that Spotify’s deal with Barcelona – in which album covers and symbols appear in place of the streaming platform’s logo – is a good example of a forward-thinking business. He also supports the luxury goods market.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget on Wednesday is set to see changes to taxation on gambling companies, with the increase set to generate millions of dollars for the Treasury.

And Kaltenieks urged the government to be careful, stressing that “solid and stable” regulations could change things so that jobs could be sent overseas.

He called for maintaining “a competitive but also well-regulated environment, so that companies like ours can continue to invest”.