A Dated History of BK8, From LaLiga Shirts to Formula One

By the bk8io.uk editorial team · Published 4 November 2026 · Last updated 4 November 2026 · 6 min read

BK8's public history is mostly a history of sponsorship. Between August 2021 and October 2026 the brand moved from betting-partner deals with Spanish and English football clubs to motorsport and badminton under the BK8 News name, and it launched its own crypto casino, BK8.io, in August 2025.

The timeline below lists only events we could tie to an official announcement or to at least two independent reports. Each entry gives the season or dates the deal covered, so you can see at a glance which ones are still running. Club and team names are given as announced; we do not name individual players or riders.

The timeline

1. August 2021Five LaLiga clubs

   Valencia CF, Athletic Club, Villarreal CF, Elche CF and RCD Mallorca named BK8 their "Official Asian Betting Partner" for the 2021/22 season, covering digital branding aimed at viewers abroad and virtual perimeter advertising.

2. December 2021Huddersfield Town

   BK8 signed as the club's global betting partner for the rest of 2021/22, then renewed in August 2022 and added front-of-shirt sponsorship of the women's team.

3. August 2022Burnley and Crystal Palace

   Burnley named BK8 its official training-wear partner for the men's and women's teams. Crystal Palace announced BK8 as its "Official Asian Betting Sponsor" for 2022/23, with LED advertising at home matches. Burnley renewed in July 2023 for one more season.

4. June 2023Aston Villa front of shirt

   Aston Villa announced BK8 as its principal and front-of-shirt partner on a deal described as running for three years. In April 2024 SportsPro reported that Betano would take over the shirt from 2024/25, so BK8's logo was on the front of Villa shirts for the 2023/24 season.

5. February 2025Gresini Racing, MotoGP

   Gresini Racing announced BK8 News as title sponsor of its MotoGP team, renamed BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, with branding on the Ducati bikes, rider suits and garage.

6. April 2025BWF Major Championships

   The Badminton World Federation named BK8 the official betting partner of its Major Championships through 2026, starting with the 2025 Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen and the 2025 World Championships in Paris.

7. 18 August 2025BK8.io launches

   BK8 announced BK8.io, a crypto casino and sportsbook taking Bitcoin, USDT, Ether and Litecoin, in a release distributed by GlobeNewswire.

8. 31 January 20262026 Gresini livery

   The team presented its 2026 colours under the BK8 News title sponsorship ahead of pre-season testing, its 30th season in MotoGP.

9. 22 April 2026Thomas and Uber Cup Finals

   BWF named BK8 News presenting partner of the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2026 in Horsens, Denmark, played from 24 April to 3 May.

10. 2 July 2026Gresini confirms 2027 name

    Gresini Racing announced a new rider pairing for 2027 and used the name "BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP" for that season. No public source we found sets out the length of the BK8 deal beyond 2026.

11. 1 October 2026Aston Martin Aramco, Formula One

    The Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team welcomed BK8 News as a Global Partner, with branding on the AMR26 rear-wing end plate and work planned through the 2027 season and beyond.

Current and past partnerships at a glance

A badge on a sponsor strip is not proof that a deal is live, so we call a partnership current only when a dated announcement from the last twelve months covers it and its stated term has not ended.

What the pattern tells you

Three things stand out once the deals are laid end to end.

The football deals were never about British customers

Almost every club announcement used the word "Asian" in the job title or described rights aimed at viewers abroad. English football is watched far more outside Britain than inside it, so a shirt or an LED board at Turf Moor or Selhurst Park reaches BK8's actual market. It also explains why the brand never needed a licence from the Gambling Commission. Our guide to BK8.io and UK players covers that side in more detail.

The move away from football shirts fits the rule change

On 13 April 2023 Premier League clubs agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of matchday shirts from the 2026/27 season. BK8's last front-of-shirt deal in England ended in 2024, and its newer spending has gone to MotoGP, badminton and Formula One. We have no statement from BK8 linking the two, so treat this as a pattern, not a stated reason.

New deals carry the BK8 News name

Since 2025 the headline sponsorships have been signed as BK8 News rather than plain BK8: Gresini, the Thomas and Uber Cup and Aston Martin. If you are trying to work out what that name refers to, our page on the BK8 News brand and the bk8.news site explains it.

How this timeline is kept

We add an entry only after reading the original announcement or two independent reports. Single-source items, such as BK8's own claim to have sponsored the 2025 HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, are left out until a second source appears. When a deal ends or is renewed we change its status and the "last updated" date at the top of this page instead of quietly rewriting the entry.