Six Premier League clubs have been found to be in breach of regulations aimed at protecting fans from the harms of gambling.

In July, the Premier League, along with the EFL, FA and Women’s Super League, agreed to tighter restrictions around the use of gambling sponsorship in football. Front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship will be banned in the Premier League from the summer of 2026, but clubs are continuing to cash in at present.

Eleven of the 20 clubs – Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves – have gambling companies emblazoned on the front of their shirts this season. Many of those companies are obscure and targeted solely at the Asian market.

While they are still allowed at present, clubs were supposed to make changes to protect children and others vulnerable to gambling. Gambling sponsors are not permitted on replica children’s kit and all clubs should also ensure that a sponsor-free version is also available to buy for adults.

The rules read: “Ensuring that mechanisms exist to enable supporters to have the ability to purchase adult replica kits that do not include gambling sponsorship logos, in the event that they are not otherwise available for purchase.”

However, after being contacted by the Pitch Inspection, six clubs – Aston Villa (Betano), Brentford (Hollywood Bets), Everton (Stake.com), Fulham (SBOTOP), Nottingham Forest (Kaiyun) and Southampton (Rollbit) – do not currently offer replica adult kits that come without gambling sponsors. When contacted by Mirror Football, the Premier League refused to comment.

Reacting to the news, The Big Step – a group campaigning for the end of gambling sponsorship in football – wrote: “This is yet more evidence that football can’t be trusted on gambling – it’s time for the government to end this nonsense.”

As well as cashing in from gambling sponsorship, clubs have been criticised for obscuring the real nature of their sponsors’ business. Forest sponsor Kaiyun, which does not have a UK website, is a betting company, yet the club press release in August 2023 made no mention of betting.

Kaiyun is sponsoring Forest so it can appeal directly to the Chinese betting market in Chinese Mandarin. Betting is illegal in China, but Kaiyun can legally use a “white label” agreement with a UK company – in this case Isle of Man-based TGP Europe Limited – to reach millions of eyes.

Similarly, perhaps predicting a backlash from supporters, Southampton referred to Rollbit – a self-confessed “crypto and NFT casino” – as “innovator in the world of online gaming” in its own release this summer. Betting companies are understood to pay around double what others offer to sponsor Premier League clubs.

The Premier League said in July that it wants “to ensure that gambling sponsorships are delivered in a socially responsible way by being designed to limit the reach to children and those at risk of gambling related harm”. It also noted it was the first UK sports league to voluntarily agree to get rid of gambling sponsorship.

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