Everton have signed a club-record sponsorship deal with gambling company Stake.com despite reports that clubs may soon be banned from being sponsored by betting organisations.
The Toffees announced on Thursday morning that they have signed a lucrative front-of-shirt sponsorship agreement with the global betting company, which is based on the Caribbean island of Curacao. Stake.com have a number of big-name clients from the world of football and showbiz on their books.
Last season, they signed a multi-year deal to sponsor Watford ’s shirts and, earlier this year, signed clients including former Manchester City and Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero and four-time Grammy Award-winning musician Drake.
However, the controversial move from Frank Lampard’s side comes just weeks after reports from the BBC claimed that Premier League clubs could face a ban on having gambling sponsors on the front of their shirts.
Six of next season’s 20 top-flight sides have betting companies as their primary shirt sponsors. This marks a drop from 10 just a few weeks ago, when the BBC first reported that a ban against clubs using such sponsors on shirts was in the pipeline.
Crystal Palace are among the clubs to have recently switched main shirt sponsors. Last year, they were sponsored by betting company W88, who previously had an agreement with Aston Villa and have a big presence in Asia.
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Wolves have also recently distanced themselves from being primarily sponsored by a gambling organisation. Last season, they were sponsored by ManBetX, who also sponsored Real Madrid. However, for the 2022/23 campaign, their jerseys will adorn the logo of online payment company AstroPay.
In a statement Everton made on Thursday when announcing their new partnership with Stake.com, the Toffees outlined that the agreement was the highest value front-of-shirt sponsorship deal in the club’s 114-year history.
Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief executive at Everton, said: “Stake.com is an ambitious organisation with impressive growth plans and we’re all very excited to enter into a partnership with them at this stage in their journey.
“My talented colleagues in our new Revenue Team have made excellent progress in recent months and worked tirelessly to secure what is the biggest main partnership deal in the club’s history - I’d like to congratulate them on this achievement and, on behalf of everyone at the club, express my gratitude to Stake.com for choosing Everton as a long-term partner.
“Finally, I am pleased to say that we have already been working together with Stake.com on some exciting activities and content for our local and international supporters and we look forward to sharing more detail on these plans soon.”
Everton narrowly avoided getting relegated from the top-flight for the first time in over 70 years during the 2021/22 campaign, with a 3-2 win over Palace in the penultimate round of fixtures keeping Lampard’s side safe.
