Gambling Brands Appeared in Nearly One-Third of Premier League Highlights
Gambling brands were visible in nearly one in three YouTube highlight packages from the final games of the 2025/26 Premier League season. In official highlights from the 2026 World Cup, the figure was almost negligible.
A University of Nottingham study found gambling branding in 32.6% of Premier League highlights, compared with 1.5% of FIFA World Cup highlights. The difference was not simply about how much football was being shown. Researchers linked it to the very different sponsorship systems surrounding the two competitions.
The study examined 10 Premier League highlight packages covering the final 10 matches of the season and 19 official FIFA World Cup packages.
The Premier League footage carried gambling exposure through several parts of the match environment. Pitchside advertising and LED boards made up the largest portion, accounting for 50.4% of gambling brand appearances.
Front-of-shirt sponsorship followed at 27.1%. Stadium signage represented 10.1%, while sleeve sponsorships accounted for 5.4% and staff clothing for 3.1%.
That matters because the Premier League is moving to restrict front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship from the 2026/27 season. The Nottingham research suggests that removing one prominent form of branding will not eliminate gambling visibility from match coverage. Other commercial placements remain available.
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YouTube Adds Another Layer
The researchers also looked beyond branding inside the footage.
Of the 12 YouTube pre-roll advertisements identified in the Premier League sample, 10 promoted gambling operators. None of the pre-roll adverts reviewed before the World Cup highlights were for gambling companies.
The contrast is particularly relevant because YouTube has a large audience among children and teenagers. The study cited research showing that 81% of people aged three to 17 regularly watch the platform, making repeated exposure to gambling advertising possible even when viewers are not deliberately seeking gambling content.
There was less difference between the competitions when it came to trading, cryptocurrency and prediction brands. Those categories represented 4.4% of Premier League exposure and 3.7% of World Cup exposure. Researchers kept prediction markets separate from gambling operators, including ADI Predictstreet’s World Cup partnership in that category.
The wider pattern points to how much the structure of sports sponsorship can shape what viewers see. The Premier League has a broad network of commercial opportunities available to clubs, stadiums and broadcasters. FIFA’s World Cup arrangement was more concentrated, with the organisation partnering with a single traditional bookmaker.
So while football’s biggest competitions share the same global audience, their commercial footprints can look very different once the match highlights reach viewers online.
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Source: igamingexpress.com
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