Half of all Championship sides head into new season with a gambling partner
Fresh deals in recent weeks for West Brom, Hull City and Cardiff City further strengthen the sector’s standing in the English Football League
Half of all Championship sides boast at least one gambling sponsor ahead of the 2024-25 season following a flurry of deals before the start of the campaign.
The second tier of English football kicks off today, 9 August, with Preston North End facing Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers taking on Derby County.
The competition, of which the title sponsorship rights belong to Sky Bet, will see 12 of its 24 sides partnered with a gambling firm ahead of the new season.
Three deals in recent weeks have heightened the sector’s presence in the league, with Hull City adding Yolo Group’s Sportsbet.io brand as a back-of-shorts partner at the end of July.
Sportsbet.io will also serve as the Tigers’ official Turkish betting partner, with its branding to appear on the club’s home, away and third kits.
This week, Cardiff City named QuinnBet as a back-of-shirt sponsor on a two-year basis while West Brom added new Videoslots brand MegaRiches to the back of its shirts on a 12-month deal.
Relegated Burnley added Asia-facing operator 96.com as the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor in a record deal back in June, while QPR secured CopyBet as a principal partner in April.
Other front-of-shirt deals in place within the division include Watford with MrQ, bet365 and Stoke City, Sunderland and Spreadex, and Middlesbrough with Kindred Group’s Unibet brand.
Spreadex is also a betting partner for Blackburn Rovers, Norwich City and Millwall.
Millwall also count VBET as a betting sponsor.
Luton are the only club in the Championship to have committed to the Big Step’s campaign to rid the sport of gambling sponsorships.
Unlike the Premier League, which is set to ban front-of-shirt sponsorship from the start of the 2026-27 season, Championship clubs have been placed under no such commercial pressure.
Last summer, Sky Bet penned a five-year extension to its deal with the English Football League while EFL chair Rick Parry defended football’s relationship with gambling in November.
At the time, Parry said: “We’ve commissioned research, we’ve looked extensively and we haven’t seen any evidence that sponsorship leads to an increase in gambling or gambling harm.”