Everton FC shirt sponsor Stake.uk.com will no longer be a licensed website from next month, with the UK betting watchdog cautioning football clubs that directors may be liable to possible fines and imprisonment for promoting unlicensed gambling businesses.

The Gambling Commission said it will write to the Premier League football club and two other football clubs with unlicensed sponsors to warn them about the risks of promoting such unlawful gambling websites.

TGP Europe, which operates the UK website as part of a licence arrangement with a Caracao-registered gaming firm, stated it will shut the site on 11 March following the launch of an investigation by the regulator into a social media video displaying Stake’s logo featuring an adult actress and previous enforcement action.

After a meeting with the Gambling Commission, TGP said it will immediately stop accepting new registrations to the UK platform and remove redirection links from the main Stake website.

The GC said it will seek assurance from Everton and other football clubs that they have carried out due diligence on their betting sponsors, and ask them to demonstrate geo-blocking on the websites is effective even against workarounds such as using VPNs.

“Clubs will be expected to carry out sufficient due diligence to assure the Commission that consumers cannot transact with the sites from Great Britain by any means. The Commission will also be taking steps to independently verify effective measures are in place,” it said. 

The GC letter will warn that club officers “may be liable to prosecution and, if convicted, face a fine, imprisonment or both if they promote unlicensed gambling businesses that transact with consumers in Great Britain”.

Gambling is big business 

Earlier this month, the Commission revealed that data from all UK betting operators showed a total of £1.54 billion in online total gross gambling yield between October and December last year, an increase of 21% from the previous year.

Total game yield is the difference between the amount of money players wager minus the amount that they win.

Overall numbers of bets or gaming spins increased 8%, reaching a new peak of 25.9 billion, whilst the average monthly active accounts in the quarter increased 1%.

Betting on real events like sports and politics increased 38% on last year to £647 million, the highest since mid-2021, while the number of bets decreased 7%, while the average monthly active accounts decreased 3%.