The prevalence of gambling sponsorships and the format they take with respect to being displayed on team shirts have been disclosed by an analysis conducted by sponsorship intelligence business Caytoo on the 135 top men's football, cricket and rugby clubs in England.
The analysis revealed that 51 gambling-related sponsorship agreements exist, including two league-wide agreements--Betfred for rugby league's Super League and Sky Bet for football's EFL.
In around 55% of these agreements, the gambling logo is present on the shirt, 39% in the primary/central front position of the shirt, and 16% in other places, such as the sleeve, shorts or training equipment.
Further, six deals concern cricket clubs, while 45 deals include football clubs. Since all the football sponsorship arrangements are for the top two divisions, 77% of the clubs in these two leagues have a gambling sponsor.
In addition, four clubs – Newcastle United, Manchester City, Aston Villa, and Huddersfield Town – have three different gambling sponsors.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that in August 2022, when it came to shirt sponsors, the gambling business was the second-most prevalent behind the automotive industry. After declining between 2019 and 2021, it staged a "mini-comeback," making it the sector with the third-fastest growth overall.