Betting culture’s intrinsic relationship with London’s football clubs 

London has a rich footballing tradition. The capital city is home to more Premier League clubs than any other part of the country.

Over the years, these clubs have grown into global brands, competing for titles both at home and abroad.

During this time, some clubs have also developed close ties with betting companies. This is unsurprising given how popular betting can be among fans of football.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at the relationship between betting culture and the football clubs of London.

We’ll also explore what the future may hold for this relationship, and we’ll look at some betting advice too.

First, let’s take a look at London’s football clubs.

Who are London’s football clubs?

London is home not just to a large number of Premier League clubs but also teams that play in other divisions of the football league, such as the Championship and Leagues One and Two.

At the elite level, seven of the teams out of the 20 in the league are all based in London, including:

• Arsenal
• Brentford
• Chelsea
• Crystal Palace
• Tottenham Hotspur
• Fulham
• West Ham United

All these clubs have been around for over a hundred years, with Fulham being the oldest club, founded in 1879.

Three London teams also play in the second-highest division, the Championship: Watford, Mill wall and Queens Park Rangers.

The relationship between London’s football clubs and betting

There are 10 London teams in the top two divisions of English football. Four of them are sponsored by betting companies:

• West Ham
• Brentford
• Watford
• Fulham

All these sponsors feature on the home and away shirts of teams, as well as advertising hoardings around pitches.

The deals clubs can strike with betting companies can be potentially lucrative. For example, Everton FC struck a deal worth £10m with a betting company that caught headlines for the value.

You can, therefore, understand why so many clubs have developed a relationship with betting companies. It can help make or break their season, contributing to issues such as transfers and paying potentially expensive player salaries.

This relationship filters down to the fans too. Many people enjoy placing a bet on football matches. From accumulators to proposition bets, let’s take a look at some tips and advice for football betting.

Advice on betting on football

With 380 Premier League matches to watch each year, there’s huge potential to place bets and, if you’re lucky, to win a few payouts.

However, if you’re new to sports betting, you may be unfamiliar with some of the terminology and how different bets work.

In short, it’s possible to bet on all aspects of a match. At the straightforward end, you can choose the outcome of the game—win, lose or draw.

You can also make bets with different layers, which can increase the odds. For example, you could bet on Arsenal to win and for both teams to score in the match.

It’s also possible to make over/under bets. In this case, you can bet on the number of goals that will be scored. For example, you could back Fulham to score over 2.5 goals, so if they win 3-0, you win your bet.

One of the most popular types of bets is the accumulator. Part of the lure of accumulators is that if you can call them right, you can benefit from big odds. However, they’re hard to win.

They work by picking the results of a large number of games. The more games involved in the bet, the harder it is to get right and therefore the greater the odds you’ll receive.

Back in 2001, a roofer from Staffordshire named Mick Gibbs won £500,000 off a 30p accumulator bet.

An important thing to remember with betting is to do your research. The more you know and understand going into it, the better chance you’ll have.

Will the relationship change in the future?

While football’s relationship with betting has been strong in London for many years, there’s a suggestion that things may change in the future.

The Premier League recently announced that from 2026, football teams will no longer accept shirt sponsors from gambling companies.

Clubs will, however, still be able to work with betting companies to advertise on the likes of hoardings and they can also feature as shirt sleeves sponsors. They just cannot feature on the front of the shirt.