LiveScore Group has agreed a deal with Sunderland AFC to become one of the club’s principal partners, marking the team’s second betting partnership in recent months.

The new agreement includes branding on the first-team shirt sleeve, training wear and warm-up kit for the 2025/26 season. LiveScore’s core product is football scores app, but its betting offering has become increasingly valuable with growing customers and market reach.

The LiveScore Bet logo will first appear when Sunderland plays West Ham at the Stadium of Light this Saturday (16 August). The deal also labels LiveScore as the official scores partner for the club.

Dominic Vye, Marketing Director at LiveScore and LiveScore Bet, said: “We are extremely excited to be partnering with Sunderland AFC at this monumental moment in their history. Sunderland supporters are famed within the game for their passion and pride, and the special place which the club holds in their community. 

“As brands, LiveScore Bet and LiveScore are all about fuelling fans’ passion for sport. We can’t wait to unveil a series of initiatives which will bring this to life for Sunderland fans at home and around the world.”

The deal also includes access to a range of inventory, including tickets, player appearances, LED visibility and social content, to name a few. LiveScore Bet and LiveScore will also run ‘exclusive fan experiences’ throughout the season in the aim of rewarding fans for their support.

LiveScore deal has longevity

The move follows a partnership with W88 which was announced in June – reportedly Sunderland’s largest ever commercial deal.

The Asian betting firm netted a one-season white-label agreement at the club, replacing UK-based Spreadex. However, with the Premier League set to ban front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships from the 2026/27 season onwards, this agreement cannot last longer than a year. 

Sleeve deals, such as the latest LiveScore Bet one, are expected to become a more popular route for betting partnerships – providing a key commercial boost for the newly promoted top-flight side.

Clubs must be careful however as such betting partnerships may still come with some complications. Asian-facing white-label betting deals in particular, like this one, are coming under greater scrutiny in the UK due to concerns over transparency and links to unlicensed offshore operators. 

Kaiyun Sports, for instance, had previously partnered with Premier League clubs including Fulham, Wolves, Bournemouth, Crystal Place and Nottingham Forest through a white-label agreement with Isle of Man-based TGP Europe. 

When that deal expired in 2024, the UKGC sent warnings to Crystal Palace and Forest. Now, TGP Europe’s exit from the UK market is expected to have a knock-on effect on other clubs that relied on this model of partnerships.

There is also concern that simply removing betting sponsors from the front of team shirts and placing them on the sleeve and continuing to allow pitchside LED will not have much of an impact on consumer exposure to betting.

Two years after the Gambling Act review White Paper was published, sponsorship remains a contentious issue for many. Reform advocacy groups continue to advocate for a total ban on sports sponsorships, as seen by the attempted amendments to the Football Governance Bill proposed by Liberal Democrat MPs earlier this year.

LiveScore’s personalisation push

LiveScore has also been active off the pitch this summer and this week teamed up with Enteractive to boost player reactivation across both its LiveScore Bet and Virgin Bet brands. 

Enteractive will now encourage new customers who haven’t yet deposited to start playing, while also creating campaigns to bring back inactive players.

The partnership focuses on personalised engagement, using Enteractive’s (Re)Activation Cloud platform and global native-speaking agents to connect with players through genuine human conversations. 

The company may be hoping to combine personalised marketing with the more traditional route of sports sponsorship – via a club with a strong following which will once again be competing with widely watched teams like Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea – to continue growing its UK and international customer base.