The betting market’s influence on European soccer has grown year-on-year despite bans continuously being imposed across sporting leagues, with the 2022-2023 season seeing five new deals added, says GlobalData.

According to the leading data and analytics company, 21.35% of all primary front-of-shirt deals across European soccer leagues are linked to the betting industry. Apart from the retail sector, this rate of growth is the biggest year-on-year change of any industry, as clubs look to cash in on the increased income typically offered by betting brands in sports sponsorship—while they still can.  Example of new deals include Fulham’s deal with W88; and AZ Alkmaar’s deal with Kansino.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Business of European Soccer Front-of-Shirt Deals 2022-23’, analysed ten elite European leagues* and found that the gambling industry is affiliated with 38 out of the 178 active deals this season.

Jake Kemp, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “There is a growing discontent with the betting industry’s influence and calls to introduce further bans in places such as England and Portugal are becoming louder. Whilst it can reflect badly on teams/federations to be visibly supporting betting brands, the main calls for banning such ‘taboo’ industry sponsors are coming from groups away from soccer including national governments. In Belgium, there are already plans to phase out such partnerships by 2024, while a national government ban has been approved in the Netherlands, which is set to hit its soccer league by 2025.”

The combined industry spend by betting brands is worth a total of $100.53 million over the course of the 2022-23 season, highlighting how big of a gap would be left to fill following bans in shirt sponsorship deals.

Kemp continues: “The main issue around dropping betting brand sponsorship is the impact it has on clubs’ financial opportunities. Gambling brands typically offer much larger sums from the same level of partnership with a club, and so any future bans would hurt the affiliated teams financially. These clubs would then be forced to accept smaller annual fees for the same sponsorship rights.”

Liga Portugal currently stands as the most active league for betting brands, accounting for 66.67% of the market, with deals linked to teams of all sizes, including two of the biggest teams in the country—FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon. However, Spain’s La Liga has introduced a league-wide ban ahead of the 2021-22 season, affecting six clubs that have since moved away from these types of deals.

Kemp concludes: “The number of deals linked to gambling brands can be expected to drop from next season onwards, as rules and restrictions get tighter. The reality of the situation is that clubs will struggle to attain the same level of investment from more PR-friendly shirt sponsors. Cryptocurrency has made a big play in the market this year but the excitement and viability of these brands in sponsorship has fallen in recent months, with the bubble around it bursting.

“Clubs, particularly those outside the ‘big five’ leagues in Europe, will be forced to accept smaller rights fees. Those such as the English Premier League, however, will be able to play on its foreign market interest which could help its teams minimize their losses, with a plethora of international brands keen for such vast exposure. In terms of sectors that could fill the gap, the financial services market has long been a heavy investor in soccer sponsorship, whilst the retail market saw the biggest year-on-year increase in visibility across the leagues and could be a viable option.”

* Leagues looked at for the purposes of this report are as followed: Premier League (England); La Liga (Spain); Serie A (Italy); Bundesliga (Germany); Ligue 1 (France); Liga Portugal (Portugal); Eredivisie (Netherlands); Austrian Bundesliga (Austria); Premiership (Scotland); and First Division A (Belgium).