Betway’s £20M Manchester United Deal Shows EPL Sponsorship Shift
Posted on: May 29, 2026, 11:02h.
Last updated on: May 29, 2026, 11:03h.
- Manchester United reportedly lands record £20 million annual Betway deal
- Premier League betting sponsors shift spending beyond match jerseys
- Most gambling sponsors target overseas markets rather than UK bettors
English Premier League giant Manchester United has signed a multi-year training wear sponsorship agreement with sports betting company Betway, a deal reportedly worth about £20 million ($27 million) per year, according to various reports.
If those figures are accurate, it would be the most lucrative practice-gear sponsorship in soccer – and it highlights how English clubs are finding new revenue streams ahead of next season’s ban on gambling companies sponsoring the fronts of match jerseys.
United’s jerseys will continue to carry the logo of US technology company Snapdragon, as part of a £60 million per year deal that runs until 2029, but the team’s training wear will be emblazoned with the Betway logo.
Compromise Deal
The EPL’s 20 clubs voted in 2023 to end front-of-jersey sponsorship for betting companies for the 2026/27 season as part of a compromise deal with the British government, which at the time was considering an outright ban on gambling advertising in the sport.
Currently 11 of the 20, though none of the so-called “Big Six,” display gambling logos on their chests, although all have commercial relationships with betting companies of one type or another.
Sponsorship is still allowed to appear on shirt sleeves and advertising boards, as well as training wear, while various other commercial partnerships and digital sponsorships are also permitted.
Teams and betting companies are thus shifting toward what marketers call secondary inventory. The most valuable asset, the chest logo on the match shirt, is now off-limits, but much of that sponsorship spending is simply being redirected into these secondary deals.
Still Pervasive
Critics argue that the shirt-front ban is largely symbolic and may do little to reduce the visibility of gambling brands in soccer. The ubiquity of betting advertising around sports has ignited a fan backlash, with concerns that it normalizes gambling for children.
Research by the University of Bristol business school revealed that gambling ads were shown more than 29,000 times in the UK during the first week of the 2015/16 season, almost triple that of in the first week a year prior.
Most of the current gambling sponsors on EPL shirts – nine of eleven – are either Asia-facing brands or global/offshore operators with little meaningful UK-facing presence. Instead, they use the EPL’s global reach to access hard-to-reach markets where promoting gambling is often illegal.
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