George Daskalakis, co-founder and CEO of Betano owner Kaizen Gaming, is in advanced talks to buy a minority stake in Championship club Bristol City. Daskalakis is working with financier Sandford Loudon on the proposed investment, with the pair understood to be close to an agreement with longtime owner Steve Lansdown.
Lansdown has been looking for new investment in Bristol City for several years and has said he would consider either a minority deal or a full sale to the right buyer. He has been involved with the club since 1996 and has invested around £280 million of his own money, while Bristol City have spent most of the past two decades in the Championship and have not played in the English top flight since 1980.
Daskalakis and Loudon are currently discussing a minority position rather than an outright takeover, and it remains unclear whether an agreement would give their group the right to increase its ownership later. Bristol City declined to comment on the negotiations, while representatives for the investor group also declined to comment.
Daskalakis built Kaizen Gaming into the company behind Betano, which now operates across 20 markets and has around 13 million customers globally. The bookmaker has made football sponsorship one of its main routes into new markets, working with clubs including Bayern Munich, Benfica, River Plate, Flamengo and Sparta Prague while also signing major tournament agreements with UEFA and FIFA.
Betano already has a substantial presence in English football. It became Aston Villa’s principal and front-of-shirt partner in 2024, before moving to the club’s sleeve for the 2026/27 season under a new three-year agreement. Betano also signed a deal with Tottenham this summer that puts its branding on training wear during 2026/27, pitchside advertising and stadium screens before transitioning into an official betting partnership covering Europe and Latin America.
The change at Aston Villa came as Premier League clubs collectively removed gambling companies from the front of matchday shirts beginning with the 2026/27 season. The agreement, announced in 2023, applies specifically to front-of-shirt sponsorship rather than gambling advertising across English football, leaving operators free to buy sleeve space, training-kit branding, digital inventory, pitchside boards and other commercial rights. Championship clubs such as Bristol City are not covered by the Premier League agreement.
Daskalakis buying part of Bristol City would therefore fall outside the sponsorship restriction entirely. Club ownership is not advertising inventory, and there is no evidence that his interest in Bristol City was prompted by the Premier League rule. The timing nevertheless shows how deeply gambling money remains connected to English football even as its most visible sponsorship position disappears from Premier League shirts.
Betano’s current English partnerships already show how operators are adapting. Aston Villa replaced the company’s front-of-shirt position with sleeve branding, while Tottenham’s agreement gives Betano exposure on training clothing, LED boards and other club media without placing it in the prohibited position. A stake in Bristol City would add a completely different relationship, with the executive behind a major betting company becoming a club shareholder rather than simply paying for branding.
The UK government is also preparing a separate restriction aimed at gambling companies that operate without a British Gambling Commission license. Proposals published in July would make it a criminal offense for clubs and other organizations to advertise unlicensed operators, with the government targeting implementation before the 2027/28 football season. That proposal is separate from the Premier League’s shirt-front agreement and is aimed at unlicensed gambling businesses rather than licensed brands such as Betano.
Bristol City have attracted interest from several potential investors since Lansdown began looking for outside capital, including previous discussions with Saudi sports executive Turki Alalshikh. The club’s ownership structure, Ashton Gate stadium and wider Bristol Sport assets have made any transaction more complicated than simply purchasing a standalone football team.
Daskalakis’ negotiations are happening as English football is reducing one form of gambling exposure without severing the commercial relationship. Betting logos have disappeared from Premier League shirt fronts, but Betano has simply moved onto sleeves, training kits and other sponsorship assets. A personal investment by the company’s CEO in an English club would take that relationship one step further, from buying visibility around football to owning part of the business itself.