UK to crack down on unlicensed casinos sponsoring football teams

Everton FC signed a three-year sleeve sponsorship deal with Stake.com. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Everton FC signed a three-year sleeve sponsorship deal with Stake.com. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images UK to crack down on unlicensed casinos sponsoring football teams Government to launch consultation after Everton’s deal with Stake.com went ahead amid warnings from Gambling Commission Ministers are poised to launch a crackdown on unlicensed casinos sponsoring British sports teams, amid criticism that a delay to the proposals has opened the door for offshore gambling firms to strike lucrative deals with Premier League clubs. Progress with plans to kick unlicensed gambling operators out of football has stalled since February, when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said a review would begin in spring. The consultation will be launched this week, well-placed sources told the Guardian. But a landmark sponsorship deal, signed during the delay, vindicated concern voiced by one of the UK’s largest licensed gambling firms. Stella David, the chief executive of Ladbrokes owner Entain, wrote to the gambling minister, Baroness Twycross, in early June, urging the government to act fast because sponsorship agreements with unlicensed firms were “surely now being finalised”. She was proved right within weeks, when Everton FC signed a three-year sleeve sponsorship deal with the controversial crypto casino Stake.com , ignoring guidance from the Gambling Commission urging clubs to think twice before pursuing such deals. A senior industry source called on lifelong Everton fan Andy Burnham, a vocal critic of the gambling industry, to condemn the deal. “Burnham became stridently anti-gambling when he became mayor of Manchester, but his own football club is taking money from an unregulated gambling company,” said the source. “We face the prospect of our prime minister wearing an Everton shirt and becoming a billboard for a crypto casino, which would be outrageous. “He should condemn the Everton deal in the strongest terms.” Stake effectively surrendered its licence to operate in Britain last year, amid a regulatory review of practices , including apparent promotion of the brand by the porn actor Bonnie Blue. Days later, the Gambling Commission put sports teams on notice that they and their executives could be liable for prosecution if they were found to have promoted unlicensed gambling businesses that transact with British consumers. Stake says it does not take bets in the UK. However, the law does not prevent unlicensed casinos such as Stake – and a host of other brands that chiefly target football viewers in east Asia – from sponsoring British clubs. The government consultation, due to be launched this week, will seek expert opinion on proposals to close that loophole. The long-awaited review comes a month after the Entain boss issued her warning to Twycross, in a letter seen by the Guardian. David said the delay