English Premier League (EPL) side Aston Villa FC announced today it has agreed to a three-year partnership with online gambling firm BK8 to make it the club’s new principal and front-of-shirt partner.

Collaborations to Grow Both Brands

Under the terms of the agreement, the logo of the betting and gaming firm will feature on the front of Aston Villa’s three shirts until the end of the 2025/26 season, fitting right into the transitory period EPL clubs gave themselves as part of their voluntary agreement to axe front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships.

“Through this partnership with BK8 we look forward to exciting collaborations together that will help to grow both brands, particularly within Southeast Asia,” said an Aston Villa spokesperson about the deal.

As part of the sponsorship, BK8 committed to making a contribution to a local charity in Birmingham for every adult shirt sold from the club’s third kit, building on the brand’s work with charities and programs aimed at raising mental health awareness over the past two years. The donation is set to become the first in a series of charity initiatives in collaboration with the club.

BK8’s managing director, EMEA, Michael Gatt, explained the rationale behind the initiative, delighted to be in a position to provide support for local charities throughout the partnership with the club.

“Being able to give something back to the supporters for their dedication is a hugely significant part of the reason we want to be involved with a prestigious institution, which is what Aston Villa Football Club are,” he said, highlighting the company’s commitment to supporting local communities of its football partners over the past few years.

Advertising Assets for Charity Messages

Gatt further noted that BK8 would invest in several brand activations over the course of the partnership as a display of their commitment to local charitable initiatives in the city of Birmingham and its surrounding areas and to engage with Villa supporters, as well as give various advertising assets at Villa Park to charity organizations.

Aston Villa has been negotiating with BK8 since the beginning of the year as the club’s current deal with the online car retailer, Cazoo, was set to expire at the end of the season. The club faced strong criticism from its fans after the Aston Villa Fans Consultation Group sent a letter to express its disagreement but decided to ignore the critics and pursue the controversial deal.

BK8 has a history of partnerships with EPL club Crystal Palace, English Football League (EFL) clubs Burnley FC, which has been promoted to the EPL this season, and Huddersfield Town, and a number of Spanish LaLiga clubs, including Villareal CF, Athletic Club Bilbao, Valencia CF, Elche CF, and RCD Mallorca.

The betting brand was involved in a controversy with Norwich City in the summer of 2021 after fans and locals forced the club to scrap the deal with the firm over its use of sexualized adverts online.

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The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has no plans to restrict gambling sponsors from featuring on the front of football clubs’ match-day shirts and follow in the footsteps of the English Premier League (EPL).

No Plans for Such Restrictions

The body overseeing the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One, and Scottish League Two would not follow the lead of the EPL and introduce a voluntary restriction for its clubs to feature gambling firms on the front of their shirts, stating it was a matter for each club to decide.

“For many SPFL clubs, sponsorship from gambling companies is a significant source of income which helps to support their business models and enables investment in many of the important community activities which clubs undertake,” a spokesperson for the SPFL told BBC Scotland.

Individual sponsorships are a matter for each club and there are no plans for a league-wide proscription of such deals.

SPFL spokesperson

The SPFL announcement alleviated worries for at least three Scottish Premiership clubs Celtic, Rangers and Dundee United. Celtic is currently featuring Dafabet on the front of their shirts, Rangers has two gambling shirt partners -32Red and Unibet, and Dundee United’s jersey hosts the logo of QuinnCasino.

‘Desperate for Money’

The announcement was blasted by former First Minister Henry McLeish who believes the SPFL would not act because of financial issues. Adamant that tobacco, alcohol and gambling firms should have no place in Scottish football, McLeish believes the SPFL should not hide behind the clubs when it is its responsibility to “look after the general interests of football.”

I think we’re in a position in Scotland where, forgive the pun, it’s a match made in hell. Because quite frankly the SPFL is desperate for money and of course, the gambling industry is desperate for advertising.

Henry McLeish

McLeish regretted that the SPFL would not follow the lead of the EPL, expressing his disbelief that in Scotland and the UK “there are not good sponsors willing to come into the game if the game itself could be made more attractive to those particular sponsors.”

According to the collective agreement announced yesterday, Premier League clubs will voluntarily remove gambling firms from the front of their shirts starting from the 2026/27 season. Clubs will keep their right to feature gambling firms on the shirt sleeves, gear, on pitch-side hoarding, or elsewhere at their stadia.

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