Everton’s Sponsor Controversy Deepens as Stake Quits UK Licensing

In November 2022, when Everton unveiled their record £10M-a-year sponsorship arrangement with Stake.com, it seemed like a godsend for a club in need of funds. But what should have been a salvation has turned into a cautionary tale regarding the pitfalls of poor sponsor due diligence. 

In March 2025, Stake relinquished its UK gambling license amid a regulatory inquiry, which left Everton with an unlicensed operator's logo on its shirts, and revealed huge shortcomings in the way football clubs vet prospective partners.

How a Record Deal Happened

The scandal erupted after the UK Gambling Commission probed Stake for social media promotion with adult content that appealed to underage persons. The advertisement, which was displayed outside Nottingham Trent University, breached several standards of gambling promotion. Instead of suffering possible enforcement action, TGP Europe, the Isle of Man-based firm that supplied Stake's white-label UK license, voluntarily surrendered its operating license with effect from 11 March 2025.

And it gets complicated from here. Everton still features Stake branding on shirts despite the sponsor no longer being UK licensed. Although allowed under existing Premier League regulations, the optics are awful. The UK Gambling Commission issued official warnings to Everton and other clubs regarding the legal and reputational dangers of advertising unlicensed gambling sites. The Coalition to End Gambling Ads went a step further and directly accused Everton of promoting unlicensed operators and called for action.

And this is not Everton's first sponsorship controversy. The club ended its former record partnership with SportPesa early in 2020, indicating a pattern of sponsor screening breakdowns that should alarm any club stakeholder.

The Financial Bind

You may ask why Everton doesn't just end its links with Stake. The reason is starkly straightforward: they cannot afford to do so. The club recorded a £53.2M loss in the 2023-24 financial year, their seventh successive yearly loss. Sponsorship revenue of £21.6M accounts for approximately 11.6% of Everton's overall turnover, and Stake's £10M share is crucial to keeping the books fairly even.

The timing could not be worse. Everton unveiled their stunning new £750M Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium in August 2025, raising capacity to 52,769 seats from 39,000. Experts in the industry estimate the new stadium will bring in an extra £50-60M a year in added matchday revenue, hospitality packages, and commercial deals. Yet to reach that potential, it needs credible sponsors willing to link their brands to the club.

So Everton has a dilemma: hold on to a valuable partnership that damages their reputation at the exact time when they should be attracting top-level sponsors, or end the agreement and create an enormous revenue deficit during their most significant transition phase in generations. The Friedkin Group, which took over the club in December 2024, inherited this debacle at precisely the wrong time.

Then there's the looming deadline. Premier League clubs voted voluntarily to ban gambling firms from front-of-shirt sponsorships from the 2026-27 season. That means Everton will have to replace Stake anyway, the question is whether they do so on their own initiative.

What Went Wrong in Sponsor Vetting

The Stake case is an example of a basic misunderstanding of white-label licensing arrangements. A lot of clubs seemed to believe that since Stake was licensed under the license of TGP Europe, the regulatory burden lay with the license holder. That is not the way regulators look at things. The UK Gambling Commission spelt out that clubs need to show they've conducted appropriate due diligence on the underlying business of their sponsors, and not merely their licensing documentation.

It is not enough to make sure that a prospective partner possesses current licenses. You must review their complete regulatory record in every jurisdiction in which they do business. Stake, for example, is a substantially unregulated crypto-gambling site globally while employing white-label arrangements for regulated jurisdictions. That twin structure should've instantly raised warning signs.

In addition to licenses, clubs need to take into account marketing practices, disclosure of corporate ownership, and previous regulatory violations. Has the operator been fined or investigated? Are beneficial owners easily identified? Are their advertising codes aligned with league policy and wider social norms?

When it comes to potential sponsors, clubs are looking at independent rating systems that assess operator credibility. Bookmakers.bet's bookmaker rating, for example, evaluates such criteria as license status, transparency, payment reliability, and regulatory compliance history, precisely the standards that could have indicated Stake's vulnerabilities before Everton committed to the partnership. Such a strict evaluation process allows clubs to avoid relationships with operators who are under regulations and restrictions.

But contract signing is just the beginning. Future sponsorship agreements must contain strong termination clauses invoked by license revocations or regulatory breaches.

The Way Forward

Everton's situation is an important lesson to all clubs grappling with their complicated sponsorship environment. As gambling shirt sponsors are weeded out and regulatory pressures intensify, clubs can no longer afford to conduct superficial background checks and enticing financial deals.

The truth is that today, a sponsor's regulatory past and present are part of their monetary worth and reputation. A partnership that makes money in the short term but leads to reputational harm and regulatory risk ends up destroying value, particularly when clubs have to recruit the next generation of sponsors.

As Everton adjust to life in their new home, they're finding this out the hard way. Their problems should cause every club to drive in strict, multi-layered due diligence systems that protect financial and brand interests. 

---

//

Reader Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

There are no responses so far to this article. Be the first to offer a comment using the form below.

How to get rid of these ads and support TW

---