Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BETTING FIRM BAN WOULD HARM CLUBS
FOOTBALL has been warned it faces a “significant impact” with the Government ready to impose a major crackdown on betting sponsorship.
Ministers could impose a complete ban on shirt sponsorship with gambling firms as part of their review, even though teams from the top two divisions make around £110million a year from the tie-ups.
But there are growing concerns about addiction and football’s relationship with the multi-billionpound gambling industry in terms of advertising and commercial deals.
Now one of the major firms, the Kindred Group – which oversees Unibet and 32Red in the UK among nine brands – has taken the step of opening up its books.
Neil Banbury, UK General Manager at Kindred Group, says their figures and in-depth research shows that “high risk” customers make up four per cent of their business and their target is to reach zero levels.
But Banbury did admit the financial implications for football could be huge if the Government tries to pull the plug as 32Red sponsor Derby in the Championship, while eight top-flight teams out of 20 have their shirt sponsored by betting firms.
He said: “To some extent, we would welcome some intervention or some changing in the rules. The vast majority of brands sponsoring the Premier League don’t have a UK business, have no interest in UK consumers.
“That has created the toxicity around the debate when what we should be talking about is a high bar to get involved, and then talk about the good work we can do together.
“Ultimately, if the buyers in that market get heavily restricted, the price will go down. So clubs will be facing reduced income streams at a time where they’ve got plenty of income stream challenges outside of the sponsorship world, so there’s potential for significant impact.”
Kindred believe if they can identify the number of problem gamblers, they can flag up issues and take action. But ex-crystal Palace and Spurs defender Steven Caulker, a selfconfessed gambling addict, accused firms of “preying on the weak”.
Banbury (above) added: “It’s people that are impacted when harm is caused and it’s not just the gambler, it’s their family and friends.
“We need to get to a position where we can significantly reduce (the number of high-risk gamblers) and our goal is zero per cent.”