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- Ban starts from 2026/27 season
- West Ham’s deal with previous shirt sponsor Betway was valued at UK£10m per year
English top-flight soccer club West Ham United have a agreed a new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with gambling company BoyleSports, according to the Daily Mail.
The one-year deal with the Irish firm is reportedly worth around UK£12 million (US$16.3 million).
BoyleSports’ arrival would see the Hammers bring in another gambling brand as their shirt sponsor, replacing Betway, whose deal – valued at UK£10 million (US$13.6 million) per season – ran from 2019 until the end of the 2024/25 season.
It would also mean West Ham cashing in one last time with a gambling company before the ban on betting sponsorship from the front of Premier League matchday shirts kicks in from the 2026/27 campaign.
Last season, 11 Premier League teams had front-of-shirt deals in place with a gambling brand, compared to eight for 2023/24.
For BoyleSports, a deal with the Hammers would mark a return to main sponsorship of an English top-flight club, having partnered with Sunderland from 2007/08 to 2009/10.
West Ham’s reported new deal comes as one of their standout players Lucas Paqueta faces a possible lengthy ban over alleged betting breaches. The Brazilian’s trial has concluded but, according to the Daily Mail, a verdict could be as much as eight weeks away.
According to The Sun, Betway was the first company to flag the volume of bets placed on Paqueta to be booked in West Ham games, which led to the Brazilian being charged with spot-fixing and the Football Association (FA) demanding a life ban from the game.
West Ham told the Daily Mail that the end of their partnership with Betway was not related to the company’s role in the Paqueta case.
The prospect of West Ham bringing in another betting sponsor amid the Paqueta case has been criticised by Will Prochaska, director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, who said the move showed a lack of integrity.
“The modern gambling industry has poisoned football, and teams like West Ham have lost their moral compass,” Prochaska told the Daily Mail.
“It’s a sorry indictment of football authorities that players like Paqueta get read the riot act for gambling offences whilst his club is enabled to promote dangerous gambling products to fans.
“That the club, despite this background, is replacing one gambling sponsor with another shows that they have not learned anything and are still putting corporate greed above the interest of fans. No doubt this is the last throw of the dice for them given the incoming rules, when we fully expect gambling companies will move their logos onto sleeves and backs of shirts.”
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