Bookies boss admits: There might be too many TV ads for gambling

THE boss of a major bookmaker has admitted there ‘might be too many’ gambling advertisements on TV.

Jim Mullen, the chief executive of Ladbrokes Coral, spoke out after charities warned that British children risked becoming hooked on betting thanks to the commercials.

A Daily Mail investigation found that youngsters were being bombarded with adverts for gaming companies during live football broadcasts before the watershed.

Mr Mullen denied that there was an ‘unhealthy relationship’ between football and gambling.

But he added: ‘If you ask for my personal opinion on gambling advertising and TV, I’m sympathetic that there might be too much, but it’s well within the football authorities’ position to take a view.’

A survey by the Mail found that all 26 fixtures screened live over the Christmas holidays had at least five pre-watershed commercials for betting firms.

Nearly 90 per cent were shown before the 9pm watershed, including 21 broadcast before midday.

Shirt and billboard sponsorship by gambling firms also means football coverage on the BBC’s Match of the Day is ‘saturated’ by betting promotions. A study by Goldsmiths, University of London, found the programme has even more betting coverage than Sky’s live football broadcasts.

Former England player Joey Barton, who is banned from football for breaking gambling rules, claimed that half of professionals flout them and bet on matches.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday: ‘If they found out everyone who has been betting and cracked down on it, you’d have half the league out.’

He added: ‘I think 50 per cent of the playing staff would be taken out because it’s culturally ingrained.’

The former Burnley midfielder, who is a self- confessed gambling addict, was fined £30,000 and banned for 18 months by the Football Association last April for betting on games. However, the ban was later reduced to 13 months on appeal, and is due to expire on June 1.

At the time he accused the Football Association of hypocrisy, pointing out that every time he pulled on his team’s shirt he saw a betting firm’s logo emblazoned on it. The number of TV gambling adverts has surged since 2007, when Tony Blair’s Labour government eased restrictions on high street and online betting firms.

However, charities warn that gambling was being normalised, feeding a public health crisis on the scale of obesity and alcoholism.

According to the Gambling Commission, 25,000 children aged 11 to 16 are problem gamblers, with another 36,000 at risk.

But Paul Fox, chief executive of the gaming firm Letou which sponsors Premier League side Swansea, claimed banning gambling advertisements in football would only lead to them being replaced by alcohol promotions.

‘Gambling has been part of sport for decades and is a part of British culture,’ he said. ‘It adds to the enjoyment to bet on the game or the race, but it has to be done responsibly. The UK is a free market. These clubs are going to sign to the highest bidder.’

Mr Fox added: ‘Back when I was younger it was all alcohol companies on team jerseys… now it’s all gambling. If it wasn’t for gambling companies it would be alcohol companies.

‘If Labour were to get into power and ban gambling companies from advertising on sport, the alcohol companies would be the next ones up. It’s the best way to hit the target 18-45 male demographic.’

He claimed a better way to tackle excessive gambling would be to stop customers registering with any other betting firm if they have already closed one account because they believed they had a problem.

Mr Fox said: ‘We are working on a plan whereby if you are excluded from one you are excluded from all.’

The BBC football pundits ‘pushing gambling’ to kids From Saturday’s Mail

HALF of British teenagers start drinking by the age of 14, a major study has found.

More than one in ten 14-year-olds admit binge-drinking – defined as having at least five alcoholic drinks in one sitting.

The study of 11,000 children paints a worrying portrait of risky behaviour starting from a young age. A third of 14-year-olds said they had physically assaulted someone, and 6 per cent had experimented with drugs.

University College London researchers, who have tracked the participants since birth as part of the Millennium Cohort Study, said 4 per cent admitted shoplifting and 14 per cent had caused a public nuisance – such as being noisy or rude in a public place – at least once in the previous 12 months. Four per cent had been involved in vandalism.

The researchers, who interview the participants and their parents every three years, said family background had little impact on the results. Middle- class children whose parents had a university degree were actually more likely to have been involved in anti-social behaviour, they found.

The main factor that seemed to have an effect on children’s behaviour was if parents remained married – with children from singleparent families more likely to commit crime or take drugs.

Professor Emla Fitzsimons, director of the Millennium Cohort Study, said: ‘Our findings are a valuable insight into health-damaging behaviours among today’s teenagers. There is clear evidence that substance use increases sharply between ages 11 and 14, and that experimentation before age 12 can lead to more habitual use by age 14.

‘This suggests that targeting awareness and support to children at primary school should be a priority.’

Experts warned that children can damage their health by drinking heavily at a young age, but Justine Roberts, founder of Mumsnet, said rebellious behaviour was simply part of being a teenager.

She added: ‘Parenting rebellious teenagers can be a lot like parenting toddlers: easy when it’s not your child, frustratingly difficult when it is.

‘Horrifying as it can be to smell cigarette smoke or alcohol wafting from your child’s school coat, Mumsnet users who have been through the teenager mill advise counting to ten and trying to keep things in proportion; after all, pushing boundaries is pretty much the first line of the teenager job description. As children move towards adulthood, the crucial thing is to keep open the lines of communication.’

Behaviour expert Professor David Paton, of Nottingham University, said it was noteworthy that parents’ education had ‘so little effect on risky behaviour’. ‘Teens from work- ing- class families – those whose parents have not been to university – are no more likely to engage in risky behaviour such as drug-taking or binge-drinking and are actually less likely to have engaged in anti-social behaviour such as assaulting someone.’

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of the Young Minds charity, said: ‘Young people may be more likely to behave in a risky or violent way if they have experienced trauma or violent behaviour growing up. Early intervention for those who have had difficult childhoods can have a positive impact.’

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: ‘Young people are physically unable to tolerate alcohol as well as adults, and there is evidence of a wide range of short-term and long-term harms linked to children’s drinking.

‘Young people who drink are more likely to engage in unsafe sex, try drugs and fall behind in school. In addition, the younger someone starts drinking, the more likely they are to develop a problem with alcohol when they are older.’

‘Alcohol wafting from their school coat’