Gambling industry hits back at FA’S levy plan to fund grass roots
Gambling chiefs have reacted angrily to Football Association proposals to demand potentially tens of millions of pounds from the betting industry to support the grassroots game.
Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association, responded to a Daily Telegraph interview in which Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive, set out his alternative funding plan for the amateur game after the collapse of the £600million Wembley deal.
Glenn suggested a socalled “fair return” funding package had merit because “all those betting companies use our intellectual property”. Nine of the 20 Premier League teams have shirt sponsorship deals with gambling companies, but Glenn’s plan could see a small percentage taken from bets, rather than commercial deals.
The idea was rejected yesterday by Hawkswood, who said: “The British betting industry already pays for the use of football’s intellectual property rights, and significant funds also flow from the betting to the football industries through commercial partnerships such as sponsorship, advertising and joint ventures. There is no basis whatsoever for the introduction of a statutory betting levy to support what most people would consider to be an extremely wealthy sport.”
Gillian Wilmot, chairman of the Senet Group, an independent body which manages the campaign to promote responsible gambling on behalf of the betting industry, said she was “very concerned” by the plan.
Wilmot believes any payments from football gambling could threaten the current voluntary levy many betting companies raise to help prevent gambling addiction and support addicts.