A diet of chips
TIME FOR ACTION ON GAMBLING
RISKY BUSINESS: Crystal Palace, West Ham, Leeds and Burnley display gambling logos
PUNTERS of all ages will win and lose fortunes when Manchester United host bitter rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round tonight.
The high-profile clash is one of a number of games this weekend that will lure gamblers into taking a punt on something ranging from the bleeding obvious to the downright stupid or unexpected – like the visitors actually scoring a goal.
But one thing we can predict without too much risk is that the sport’s addiction to betting sponsorship remains stronger than ever.
New research has revealed how the Premier League has the highest number of gambling sponsorship deals across Europe’s five top leagues.
Since 2001, the number of shirts boasting betting firms on them has increased by almost 50 per cent.
The national game’s relationship with gambling remains the elephant in the room no one within the corridors of power at the Premier League, FA, EFL or leading clubs are willing to tackle. Amid the on-going pandemic, it has become the forgotten problem.
Professor Simon Chadwick, who helped conduct the research, said: “Not only is there something of an unhealthy alliance between football and gambling, but the likes of children are subject to images and messaging that some find unpalatable.
“Public attitudes towards gambling are changing and this is something of an inconvenient truth for football clubs drawing significant revenues from gambling sponsorships.”
Tobacco advertising, which once dominated sports like F1, snooker and rugby league, was outlawed in 2003, while alcohol stepped aside for gambling adverts on shirts and billboards around 2017.
Since then fans of all ages have been forced fed a diet of chips, and just not those that come in a bag with salt and vinegar.
There is no escaping gambling in sport – and football is awash with it.
There are constant reminders at stadiums throughout the leagues, on kits, advertising boards and relentless ads on TV, which promote the lamentable catchphrase, “When the fun stops, stop.”
Do me a favour. To thousands of people, betting isn’t about fun, it’s about winning money they need using money they don’t have.
And while we’re at it, how is a teenager sat at home placing countless bets at the touch of a button on his phone during lockdown supposed to know when to stop?
Gambling ruins people’s health and lives, just like smoking and drinking does, so how is it still deemed acceptable that football remains so beholden to the betting industry?
Because those who run the game know a ban on gambling sponsorship would cost clubs more than £100million – and we can’t have that now the pandemic has pushed some to the brink of financial collapse.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters told a Government inquiry in November there “should not be a prohibition on sponsorship”, while EFL chairman Rick Parry said he needed convincing of the merits of the argument that football has direct links to problem gambling.
What hope is there for change when these two take such a stance, or when we have a farcical situation like the FA fining Yerry Mina for taking part in a betting advertisement, on the same day he ran out for Everton in a shirt sponsored by a betting firm?
Has it not occurred to Masters and Parry that those same firms who pump millions into the game get their cash from fans – some of whom have run up huge debts?
Change is needed, football should not be the problem, it should be the solution.