Sports betting in the United Kingdom has been fundamentally shaped by two pieces of legislation. The first came in 1960 with the Betting and Gaming Act, which legalized off-course bookmakers. Prior to this, betting was mostly restricted to sporting venues, street bookmakers, and football pools. The second was the 2005 Gambling Act, which was primarily a reaction to the rise of online gambling services in the UK. Under the 2005 Act, all online gambling companies wishing to operate in the UK had to acquire a license from the Gambling Commission – the newly formed regulatory body for gambling in the UK. In 2015, this Act was amended to ensure that companies registered abroad would still have to pay tax in the UK if they continued operating there. Since then, the online sports betting market has grown steadily, with the
nearly doubling from around 2.3 billion U.S. dollars to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. As of January 2024, online sports betting ranked as the
.
What are the leading sportsbooks in the UK?
Over the last two decades,
leading sports betting brands such as bet365, Sky Bet, and Paddy Power have become household names. The latter two specifically are subsidiaries of the United States-based gambling giant Flutter Entertainment, which also owns UK sports betting company Betfair. In 2023,
Flutter’s revenue from sports betting in the UK and Ireland totaled close to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. One major factor behind the growth of sports betting platforms in the UK has been the sponsorship deals struck between sportsbooks and major sports leagues. This is especially the case with soccer leagues, with the second, third, and fourth tiers of English football all featuring their sponsor “Sky Bet” in their official titles. Meanwhile, in the Premier League, which is both the highest tier of soccer in England and the
most lucrative soccer league among the Big Five, gambling companies have historically been prominent team sponsors. In the 2024/25 season alone, there were 11
Premier League clubs sponsored by gambling brands.
What is the future of sports betting in the UK?
Although the UK’s sports betting industry has benefited from the rise of online gambling in the past two decades, reform of the gambling sector is on the horizon. The UK government published a white paper in 2023, stressing that current regulations surrounding gambling in the UK are not fit for purpose in the digital age, especially regarding the safeguarding of players. This comes on the back of research showing that
problem gambling is most prevalent in younger age groups, with 25 to 34 year olds in the UK having the highest share of players with the most severe Problem Gambling Index Score. With soccer, which is the
most bet-on sport in the UK, there has been an internal push to reassess its relationship with gambling sponsors. Consequently, front-of-shirt sponsorship logos will not feature on Premier League kits from 2026/27 onwards. However, considering the
value of sponsorship deals to Premier League clubs totaling over 100 million British pounds in 2024/25, it remains to be seen if this is symbolic gesture rather than a pivotal move.
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