Stake and more: The unlicensed sponsors UK football wants banned are already

International sports betting and iGaming group Entain is pushing the UK government to immediately ban unlicensed gambling sponsorships in sport. Its ask is aimed at football, but the operators it named aren’t strangers to esports. Three of the five operators named in the complaint; Stake, Shuffle, FUN88, have affiliations with esports orgs.

Key takeaways

• An Esports Charts analysis found nine of the top 10 Counter-Strike 2 teams in the Americas carry a betting or crypto casino brand as their primary jersey sponsor.
• The DCMS consultation behind Entain’s statement covers UK sport broadly; if a ban eventually extends to online and digital advertising, as Entain wants, UK-facing esports sponsorships could be caught in the same net.

Football’s unlicensed sponsorship fight has an esports parallel

Entain’s statement, issued after the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s (DMCS) second consultation on unlicensed sponsorship closed Sept. 9, argues that 11 of the Premier League’s 20 clubs now hold sponsorship or advertising deals with operators that don’t hold a UK Gambling Commission license.

The UK government has an existing timeline to ban sports sponsorship deals with unlicensed gambling operators, which would be enforced by August 2027. Entain is instead calling for the ban to be enforced immediately.

“Premier League clubs that have struck new deals with unlicensed gambling operators knew the risks. The government made clear in February that it would bring in a ban and it should do so immediately: even if that means clubs ordering new kit mid-season.

– Stella David, CEO, Entain

The same operators in esports

The infamous crypto casino Stake has built a long-running esports presence, most recently partnering with Astralis after its Counter-Strike sponsorships helped establish the brand. Stake surrendered its UK license in early 2025 following a Gambling Commission investigation, but its Everton sleeve deal and esports partnerships have persisted nonetheless.

In 2024, Shuffle bankrolled a full rebrand of Into the Breach Esports into ITB.Shuffle Esports, covering the org’s Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 rosters in a deal described as a “million-dollar yearly investment.” Shuffle does not hold a UK license, and its Sunderland sleeve deal was confirmed just days before Entain’s statement.

In 2020, FUN88 became the global betting partner of OG, the Dota 2 org led by two-time International champion Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, with branding on the team’s jerseys. This partnership has now lapsed, as OG is now working with MelBet as their official betting sponsor.

FUN88 has since focused its Premier League presence on Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest as an Asian betting partner rather than a shirt sponsor.

How esports welcomes and encourages betting sponsors

An Esports Charts analysis last February found that nine of the top 10 Counter-Strike 2 teams in the Americas now carry a betting, crypto casino or poker platform as their primary jersey sponsor.

Stake itself has founded and is co-organizing a CS2 Tournament Series, which is integrated with the Global Valve Regional Standings.

Last June 2025, Riot Games greenlighted betting sponsors for League of Legends and VALORANT teams, albeit with certain restrictions.

What the DCMS consultation could mean for esports

Entain wants any eventual ban to cover more than physical branding, the company is pushing for digital and online advertising to be covered too.

That distinction matters for esports, where sponsorship activation happens overwhelmingly online – through jerseys shown in streams, social posts and branded content rather than stadium boards. A ban written broadly enough to catch football’s digital exposure would, in principle, apply to esports orgs and streamers reaching UK audiences in exactly the same way.