Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest Receive Warning over Gambling Sponsorship

Two Premier League teams reportedly received a warning over active sponsorship agreements with a betting website that currently doesn’t hold a license in the UK.

In an effort to decrease the exposure of children to gambling advertisements Premier League soccer clubs have previously agreed to ban all gambling sponsorships from their jerseys. Although the ban is planned to come into force with the 2026-27 season, several clubs recently signed such sponsorships.

Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are two clubs that currently have a commercial sponsorship agreement with Kaiyun Sports, a leading Asian digital sports platform.

The deal between Kaiyun Sports and Crystal Palace dates back to May 27, 2023. At the time, the team selected the brand as its Official Sleeve Partner for the 2023-24 season.

On the other hand, last year in September, Nottingham Forest penned a two-year sponsorship deal with Kaiyun Sports. This designated the sports platform as the team’s official front-of-shirt sponsor.

The Gambling Regulator Issues a Warning

Although the sponsorships were signed last year, the two teams were recently warned, as announced by the New York Times. In particular, Crystal Palace, as well as Nottingham Forest have been warned about their agreement with Kaiyun Sports. The main issue with the sponsorships is that the aforementioned brand isn’t currently licensed to offer its services to customers in the UK.

“We have made it clear to Nottingham Forest that a sports body engaging in sponsorship arrangements with an unlicensed remote operator may be liable for the offence of advertising unlawful gambling (under section 330 of the Gambling Act 2005) if the remote gambling activity isn’t blocked to consumers in Great Britain,“

explained a spokesperson for the Gambling Commission

A spokesperson for the UK gambling regulator, the Gambling Commission, who was recently quoted by the publication revealed that Nottingham Forest was notified that an active sponsorship agreement with an unlicensed gambling operator may translate to the promotion of unlawful gambling in case the services of that operator aren’t blocked in Britain.

Earlier this week, top soccer leagues in the UK confirmed the adoption of a new code of conduct, applicable to gambling-related sponsorship agreements. In that line of thought, the sponsorships with Kaiyun Sports fell short of the new code of conduct that was agreed upon by the EFL, the FA, the Premier League and the Women’s Super League.

Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace aren’t the first high-profile soccer clubs to join forces with Kaiyun Sports. Back in 2022, Aston Villa signed an official partnership with the gambling operator. Similarly, Chelsea also had an active agreement with Kaiyun Sports.