Gambling Ads Shown On Screen for 32% of Premier League Highlights on YouTube
Children and vulnerable adults are being bombarded with gambling ads during Premier League highlights packages, a shock new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have learned that gambling ads were visible on screen for a staggering 32% of EPL highlights broadcasts shown on YouTube.
And with viewers of all ages able to access the action via the video streaming platform, it confirms that despite some other rule changes, the Premier League still has a gambling problem.
Unhealthy Branding
Advertising messages from betting operators were visible for a third of the broadcast time, with researchers focusing on the Premier League highlights packages shared by Sky Sports on their official YouTube channel.
Concentrating on the final ten games of the 2025/26 season, the University of Nottingham found that ads for ‘unhealthy commodity branding’, which broadly covers gambling and junk food, were on screen for a total of 38% of the run time.
For context, they also examined highlights of 17 World Cup games shared on the official FIFA YouTube channel this summer. In those matches, unhealthy commodity branding was on screen for 19% of the air-time – but just 2% was ads from gambling firms.
The caveat is that Premier League clubs were allowed to have a betting operator as their front-of-shirt sponsor in 2025/26. However, according to the study, that accounted for only 25% of gambling brand appearances – the remaining three-quarters were largely made up of ads on pitch-side LED screens and hoardings.
To that end, the voluntary ban on such front-of-shirt sponsorships – enacted as of the new 2026/27 campaign – will only have a marginal impact on how many gambling ads viewers are consuming per game.
Armchair Fans
For added context, there were more than 665,000 views of Sky Sports’ highlights of the Man City vs Aston Villa game on the final day of the 2025/26 season, while the contest between Arsenal vs Crystal Palace has drawn more than 503,000 views to date.
According to the latest data, around 81% of children aged 3-17 are described as regular YouTube users.
The leader of the study, the University of Nottingham’s Nathan Davies, commented: “As the new season kicks off, the scale of potential exposure is substantial. Gambling adverts ran before most highlights.
Gambling branding was on screen for a third of the highlights we analysed, and only around a quarter of those appearances were on the front of shirts, the one placement the Premier League's voluntary agreement addresses. That leaves the great majority of gambling exposure in football coverage untouched.
Nathan Davies
New Deal
It’s somewhat ironic then that a new gambling ad deal has just been signed… by Nottingham Forest.
This week, they announced a partnership with BOYLE Sports, which will see the Irish firm come on board as the club’s official betting partner.
As part of the deal, Forest have confirmed that BOYLE Sports branding will appear on LED signage around their City Ground stadium – ‘making the brand a visible part of the matchday experience for supporters in the stadium and audiences watching around the world,’ reads the official statement.
The head of sponsorship at BOYLE Sports, Liam McKee, commented:
We look forward to bringing the BOYLE Sports brand to the City Ground and engaging with Nottingham Forest fans throughout the season.
Liam McKee
Many Premier League clubs will showcase betting brands on their pitchside signage this season, while Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Everton and Forest will also bear the logos of Betano, Mr Q, Stake and Bally’s Intralot respectively on their shirt sleeves.
And so that 32% figure quoted by the University of Nottingham in their research is unlikely to shrink much in 2026/27…
Craig is a freelance sports and iGaming writer with over a decade of experience covering the industry. He keeps a close eye on the latest bookmaker news, regulatory updates and market developments, bringing accurate and informed takes for BettingLounge readers.