Bet365 has boosted its brand presence in Italian football by becoming the shirt sleeve sponsor for Serie A club Udinese, through its subsidiary bet365 Scores.
The popular sports betting app has brokered a strategic partnership that will see the bet365 Scores logo appear on the left sleeve of Udinese’s match shirts through the 2025-26 season.
The new strip will make its debut on August 9 when Udinese play an international pre-season friendly against Bundesliga club Werder Bremen in Germany.
Udinese hailed the collaboration as a “partnership based on a shared vision that seeks to offer fans new experiences thanks to technology”.
The deal comes just a few weeks after reigning Serie A champions Napoli announced that bet365 Scores was going to be its Official Infotainment Partner for the 2025-26 season.
bet365 Scores è il nuovo sleeve sponsor del Club bianconero per il 2025/26🤝
bet365 Scores is Udinese’s new sleeve sponsor for the 2025/26 season🤝 pic.twitter.com/nRzoTaYSBJ
— Udinese Calcio (@Udinese_1896) August 5, 2025
What About Italy’s Ban On Gambling Sponsorships?
Italian clubs have sported some classic shirts that have featured major sportsbook and online casino brands, with AC Milan’s red and black bwin-sponsored design from 2006 to 2010 being a fan favourite.
A marketing ban on gambling sponsorships within Italian football came into effect in January 2019.
The law now prohibits clubs from displaying the names of betting platforms on the front of their shirts or around their stadium advertising boards.
That led to betting operators arranging sponsorship deals through their media and content divisions which don’t offer gambling services in Italy.
Inter Milan teamed up with the Betsson Sport Group in 2024-25 via its media branch, Betsson Sport, who became the club’s front of shirt sponsor in a four-year deal.
Betway’s subsidiary Betway Scores appeared on Fiorentina’s shirt sleeve last season.
The bet365 Scores app does not offer betting, it delivers football scores, updates and statistics to its users.
Sponsorship Bans Around European Football
Premier League clubs in England voted to ban front-of-shirt advertising by gambling operators from the start of the 2026-27 season, in an act of self-regulation.
By taking the initiative, it has negated the need for the UK government to step in and create its own strict rulings.
Earlier this week, Bally’s Corporation was announced as front-of-shirt sponsor for Premier League club Nottingham Forest, but that partnership will only run until the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
In the Netherlands it was the government that acted to restrict marketing of gambling companies for sports clubs and competitions and a full ban came into effect in July.
A spokesperson for the Dutch football federation, KNVB, described the process as “bloodletting” for sport and added: “Whereas other countries have seen income from media rights, sponsors and foreign investors increase, in the Netherlands we have had more political restrictions imposed.”
When Spain introduced a similar ban ahead of the 2021-22 season, seven out of the 20 LaLiga clubs had gambling companies as their principal shirt sponsor.
Jim Munro is a betting industry and gambling expert who has been a national newspaper journalist for over 30 years, predominantly at The Sunday Times and The Sun, where he wrote a weekly soccer betting column. Jim also worked on the launch of Virgin Bet with Gamesys and was subsequently head of editorial at LiveScore, the sports media and betting group.
