Bristol study says Premier League shirt-ban barely cut betting ads
A fourth annual University of Bristol study finds gambling marketing fell only marginally after the Premier League's front-of-shirt betting ban, prompting fresh criticism from reform campaigners.
Three months into the 2026/27 season, the Premier League's voluntary ban on betting firms sponsoring the front of club shirts is facing renewed criticism after fresh academic research suggested it has done little to reduce fans' exposure to gambling marketing.
The restriction was agreed by 19 of the league's 20 clubs in 2023. Campaigners for tighter gambling controls argue the policy was always a partial fix, and the latest findings from the University of Bristol have given that argument new weight.
The university's Hub for Gambling Harms Research has now studied gambling marketing in the Premier League for four consecutive years. Its newest report counted 15,571 instances of what it terms gambling messages across the opening weekend of the season alone, with at least one such message appearing on screen for a combined five hours and 16 minutes.
Overall visibility of gambling branding fell by just 10.5% compared with the 2025/26 season, according to the research.
Dr Raffaello Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol Business School and Co-Director of the Hub for Gambling Harms Research, said the figures undercut any claim of progress. "This cannot be presented as a success for self-regulation," he said, adding that Premier League broadcasts carried more gambling messages per game than comparable coverage in Germany, Canada and the United States.
The study's method of tallying a single advert or logo every time it reappears during a broadcast inflates its headline total, and should be read with that in mind. Even so, the underlying trend it points to is real: marketing has simply migrated rather than disappeared.
Sleeve sponsorships rose by 362% year-on-year, the report found, while pitchside advertising boards accounted for 72% of all gambling messages logged during live matches. With shirt fronts off limits, operators and clubs have shifted spend into training kit, sleeves, LED boards and social media instead.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Reform, said the findings showed the voluntary approach was not working. "After repeated promises of reform, fans continue to be exposed to thousands of gambling messages during Premier League coverage," he said, arguing the shirt-front restriction had "barely scratched the surface of the issue" and that self-regulation by football and betting industries could no longer be relied upon. The Coalition to End Gambling Ads has also pressed the point in recent days.
Clubs have little commercial incentive to go further. Nineteen of the Premier League's 20 clubs, and 19 of the Championship's 24, currently carry a betting sponsor. Ampere Analysis data cited in the research shows betting companies accounted for 13% of all new sponsorship deals signed across English football so far in 2026/27, with overall club income tied to betting sponsorship moving from £155m to £192m year-on-year.
That commercial weight is precisely what frustrates reform campaigners, who saw the Premier League's 2023 compromise, and the limited sponsorship measures in the government's Gambling Act review white paper, as insufficient at the time. Three years on, that assessment has not shifted.