UKGC: No Specific Guidance on Foreign Betting Sponsors

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UKGC Confirms Lack of Specific Vetting Rules for Sports Clubs

A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosure has revealed that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has not issued any specific, formal guidance to sports clubs on how to conduct due diligence on non-UK-licensed gambling operators before entering sponsorship agreements.

Instead of providing bespoke rules, the regulator directed the requester to existing general guidance, indicating that the responsibility for interpreting and applying these principles falls on the sports clubs themselves.

Context: The Rise of Foreign Sponsorship

Many UK sports clubs, particularly in football, feature sponsorship from gambling companies that are not licensed to operate in the United Kingdom. These partnerships are permitted as long as the operators do not target or accept bets from UK-based consumers.

This practice has raised concerns among consumer protection advocates, who question whether these foreign operators are truly inaccessible to UK bettors and whether they meet the same high standards for social responsibility required of UK-licensed companies. The FOI request sought to clarify what formal checks the UKGC expects sports clubs to perform to mitigate these risks.

Details of the Request and Response

The request, processed by the UKGC, asked whether the Commission had, in the past 18 months, issued formal guidance to UK sports clubs regarding:

• The assurances clubs must get from non-UK operators about their systems for blocking UK customers.
• The due diligence clubs must conduct on the effectiveness of those systems.

The UKGC's response did not provide a direct 'yes' or 'no' answer. Citing Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act—which exempts information that is reasonably accessible elsewhere—the regulator stated the information was already available. It pointed the requester towards two existing documents:

1. Sports sponsorship and advertising guidance: General principles for licence holders and sports bodies on advertising.
2. LCCP Condition 1.1.2 - Responsibility for third parties: A social responsibility code provision that makes UK licensees responsible for the conduct of their partners.

By withholding a new document and referring to these broader publications, the UKGC confirms it has not created a specific checklist or set of mandatory procedures for sports clubs to follow in this exact scenario.

Significance: A Gap in Specific Oversight

The disclosure highlights a potential grey area in the regulation of gambling sponsorship. While the UKGC has general principles against advertising unlicensed gambling, the absence of specific guidance on due diligence for foreign sponsors places a significant burden of interpretation on the sports clubs.

For consumers, this means the process for vetting a foreign betting sponsor may vary significantly from one club to another. There is no standardised, regulator-mandated procedure to ensure a prospective sponsor has robust technology and processes to prevent UK residents from accessing their services. This lack of specific oversight could increase the risk of UK consumers being exposed to operators that do not comply with the UK's stringent player protection and social responsibility standards.