Sunderland AFC announced a multi-year sleeve sponsorship agreement with Shuffle, a cryptocurrency-focused online casino and sportsbook, on September 11. The branding debuted on the club’s shirts during its September 12 Premier League fixture against Arsenal, a match Sunderland lost 0-2, and will also appear across Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Europa League competitions this season. Shuffle holds a licence from the Curaçao Gaming Control Board but is not licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.
The deal adds Sunderland to a growing list of Curaçao-licensed operators sponsoring Premier League clubs without UK authorisation. According to the Gambling Commission’s published response on warnings issued to UK sports clubs, the regulator holds information on warnings given to clubs over unlicensed sponsorship arrangements but has withheld club-specific details, citing the law enforcement exemption under section 31(1)(g) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Sunderland becomes the 11th Premier League club this season with an unlicensed gambling sponsor, joining Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Everton, whose principal partner Stake is also licensed only in Curaçao. Sunderland enters the 2026/27 season without a front-of-shirt sponsor after parting ways with W88, its shirt-front partner for the club’s 2025/26 return to the Premier League, under the league’s voluntary ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship. That agreement, reached by Premier League clubs in April 2023, took effect at the end of the 2025/26 season but does not restrict sleeve, stadium or other sponsorship placements.
Noah Dummett, co-founder of Shuffle, said: “We’re incredibly excited to begin our partnership with Sunderland AFC. We share a lot of the same values, we both have the ambition to be the best.” Scott McCubbin, Sunderland’s chief commercial officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome Shuffle as our Official Sleeve Partner. There is a strong alignment between our two brands, both of which have ambitious plans for growth.”
Regulatory Pressure Builds Ahead of 2027/28
The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport closed a consultation this month on banning unlicensed operators from sponsoring British sports entities altogether, a measure that would go beyond the Premier League’s existing front-of-shirt restriction. DCMS officials have indicated the 2027/28 season is the earliest such a ban could take effect, meaning clubs remain free to sign sleeve, stadium and other sponsorship deals with unlicensed operators for at least the current season.
Licensed operator Entain has lobbied against the practice in the interim. Charles Kovats, Entain’s general counsel, said arrangements between Premier League clubs and unlicensed operators function as “an implicit stamp of legitimacy for a gambling company that has no social, economic or ethical interest in the UK,” a comment made in reference to Everton’s sponsorship by Stake. Entain has written directly to Premier League clubs urging them to end such partnerships and has called on the Independent Football Regulator to intervene.