A front-of-shirt sponsor of Everton football club is giving up its licence in Great Britain after an investigation into an ad featuring porn actress Bonnie Blue.
In a social media video shot outside Nottingham Trent University, she said she was there “as promised” to “sleep with 180 barely-legal 18 year olds”, with Stake’s logo on the screen.
Campaigners had urged the culture secretary to take action over the advert for using sexual content to promote gambling to young people.
The Gambling Commission will write to Everton to warn it of its responsibilities to ensure that the unlicensed gambling websites promoted on shirts cannot be accessed from Great Britain.
The regulator is also writing to Nottingham Forest, which has a sponsorship from Kaiyun, and Leicester City, which has a deal with BC.Game, because both sites are also unlicensed in Great Britain.
Australian online betting firm Stake decided to exit Great Britain after the Gambling Commission launched its investigation.
The English Premier League attracts a vast global audience, and clubs frequently strike sponsorship deals with firms that do no business in the UK.
Stake, whose logo appears on Everton football shirts, calls itself the “world’s leading cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook”.
The regulator will warn the clubs that their officers could face up to 51 weeks in jail and unlimited fines if they were found guilty of promoting “unlawful gambling websites”.
The regulator will also require the clubs to block UK users from accessing the unlicensed sites using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
In January, Bonnie Blue – whose real name is Tia Billinger – tried to break the world record for sex with the largest number of men in 12 hours.
The advert was not posted by an official Stake account and has now been deleted.
Premier League clubs have agreed to drop gambling companies as main shirt sponsors from the end of the 2025-26 season, but will still take gambling ads elsewhere, such as shirt sleeves and digital advert hoardings.
There has been increased scrutiny from both the government and campaigners about the widespread use of gambling firms to sponsor football clubs.
Research from 2024 suggested that the number of betting adverts during the opening weekend of the Premier League season almost trebled compared with the year before.
Campaigners, including former Stoke City player Tony Kelly, have warned about the “dark side” of sports betting, including gambling addiction.
Everton and Leicester City declined to comment. The BBC has contacted Nottingham Forest, Bonnie Blue aka Tia Billinger, and TGP Europe for comment.
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