Betting Sponsorships: A Comparison of Italy’s Ban with Those of the Premier League and La Liga
Starting with the 2026-27 season, Premier League jerseys will be free of bookmaker logos; La Liga has excluded them since 2021, and Italy has banned them entirely since 2019: a comparison of three models, with results that aren’t what was expected
The Premier League has kicked off with a change that’s plain to see: there isn’t a single betting brand on the jerseys anymore. The ban, decided by the clubs through a voluntary agreement in April 2023, took effect with the 2026–27 season: the last season in which a bookmaker could appear as a main sponsor was 2025–26. This was no minor detail: that season, 11 out of 20 clubs had a gambling operator on their jerseys. The estimated shortfall for the entire league is approximately 80 million pounds per season.
In Italy, that path had been taken seven years earlier—and in a much more radical way. Article 9 of Decree-Law 87 of 2018—the so-called “Dignity Decree,” which was converted into Law 96 of the same year—prohibits “any form of advertising, even indirect,” for games involving cash prizes and explicitly includes sporting events: not only jerseys, but also billboards, LED displays, and event names, as clarified at AGCOM’s guidelines adopted by Resolution 132/19/CONS. When the regulation took effect, 15 out of 20 Serie A clubs had an agreement with an operator. The FIGC has estimated the lost sponsorship revenue between 2019 and 2025 at approximately 600 million euros; the Serie A League puts the annual loss at over 100 million.
Europe’s strictest rule has also produced the result that is easiest to circumvent. The main sponsor on the front of the Inter is Betsson.sport, for approximately 30 million euros per season through June 2028: the most lucrative sponsorship deal in Inter’s history. Betsson.sport is not a betting site but a media and sports brand owned by the same group, so the logo remains on the jersey without violating the ban. The money has returned to Italian soccer by changing the domain name.
England and Spain: Two Bans, Two Different Outcomes
The English model is stricter but also more literal: betting logos are banned from the front of the jersey, but allowed everywhere else. Sleeves, training gear, and sideline LED displays continue to feature betting brands, and operators like Betano have shifted their sponsorship deals there. Spain, on the other hand, opted for the decree: Article 12 of Real Decreto 958/2020 establishes that sponsorship “is not permitted on T-shirts or sports uniforms,” and has barred operators from appearing on jerseys starting with the 2021–22 season. When the Tribunal Supremo, in its ruling 527/2024, struck down several articles of the regulation—ranging from welcome bonuses to the appearance of celebrities in commercials—that ban remained in effect.
In all three countries, the market has persisted, with the only change being where the advertising appears. In the United Kingdom and Spain, the restriction applies to a specific medium—the jersey—and the rest of the inventory has absorbed the spending. In Italy, the ban is broader and focuses not on the medium but on the nature of the message: communication that is purely descriptive and informative about legal offerings—which users access on their own initiative—remains outside the scope of the ban. This applies to the ADM regulations and player protections concerning online casinos in Italy, which are accessed by those who seek them out and are not displayed to those watching a game.
What’s Happening in Parliament
On the Italian front, the debate is unfolding in two opposing directions. In the Senate, the Marcheschi bill aims to reopen sponsorship only to operators authorized by the ADM, following the British and Spanish models. Moving in the opposite direction are a proposal from the Democratic Party, which broadens the interpretation of the ban, and the Boccia bill, which increases penalties by 50%. In the 29-point plan presented to the government by Lega Serie A, lifting the ban is the top priority, and in April 2026, former federation president Gabriele Gravina described the decree as largely ineffective against problem gambling.
The Premier League removed bookmakers from the front of jerseys without claiming to have removed them from soccer altogether, and managed the transition over three seasons: two clubs, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest, made their debuts without having yet replaced their sponsor. Italy has banned all forms of advertising and now finds itself with the most lucrative jersey sponsorship deal in its league signed by a brand owned by a gambling operator. Seven years later, that ban has changed the logos but not the market.
