The list of Everton’s shirt sponsors over the past few decades reads like a who’s who of some of the biggest brands in the world.

However, while lucrative links with respected firms such as NEC Corporation and Chang were well received by fans, several other partnerships have caused plenty of controversy.

That is clearly the case where online gambling firms are concerned, with thousands of the club’s supporters questioning the ethics behind linking up with the industry.

To delve a little deeper, in this comparison we will assess the impact some of Everton’s agreements with betting sponsors have had on the club in recent years.

Everton’s road to betting sponsorships

Much like most other professional football clubs, Everton safely navigated their way through more than one hundred years without any shirt sponsorship.

Danish meat manufacturers Hafnia were Everton’s first sponsor and their logo was on the shirts during what is viewed as a golden era for the club in the early to mid-1980s.

NEC Corporation, Danka and One2One were next on the list, before Chinese Electronics firm Kejian arrived on the scene in 2002.

Thailand’s largest beverage company Chang jumped on board in 2004, and their 13-year association with Everton remains the longest partnership in the club’s history.

However, the decision to link up with gambling brand SportsPesa in 2017 sparked plenty of discontent amongst the club’s loyal fanbase.

African betting giants join the Premier League party

Gambling companies have been falling over themselves to grab a piece of the lucrative Premier League pie over the past few years.

Everton signed a five-year agreement with Kenyan betting firm SportPesa in 2017, but ended the deal at the end of the 2019/20 season.

Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale claimed that ‘in an ideal world’ the club would prefer to secure a different type of sponsor than a gambling brand.

At the start of that particular campaign, Everton were one of ten Premier League clubs that had betting companies as their shirt sponsors.

Having severed ties with SportsPesa, Everton subsequently confirmed a three-year deal with online car retailer Cazoo in 2020 reportedly worth £9.6 million per annum.

Everton jump back to betting sponsorship

Everton exercised a break clause in their deal with Cazoo at the end of the second year to facilitate securing a more lucrative partnership to ease their financial woes.

They subsequently announced a shirt sponsorship deal with casino and sports betting platform Stake.com worth more than £10m per year. 

While Stake.com is fully licensed by the Great Britain Gambling Commission, the news sparked an angry backlash from a significant proportion of the club’s fans.