Bookies call for an end to gambling ads
The owner of bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral has called for an end to gamb l i n g a dve r t i s i n g i n U K sport and a ban on football shir t sponsorship featuring betting companies.
T h e a n n o u n c e m e n t comes amid growing pressure to curb incentives to gamble on sport.
Scottish football has close ties with b etting compa - nies, with all three major comp etitions sp onsored by bookmakers.
L a d b r o k e s i s t h e t i t l e s p o n s o r o f t h e S c o t t i s h P r o f e s s i o n a l F o o t b a l l L e a g u e a n d f o u r c l u b s i n t h e P r e mi e r s hi p h ave g a mb l i n g c o mp a n i e s a s their shirt sponsor: Celtic, R a n g e r s , Hi b e r n ia n a n d Motherwell.
GV C H o l d i n g s , w h i c h owns both Ladbrokes and Coral, wants to see an end to sports betting broadcast advertising during live and repeated sporting events, with the exception of horse racing.
GVC h a s u nve i l e d p r o - posals for adverts promoting responsible and safer gambling, but allowing just one advert per commercial break.
The move comes ahead of the upcoming “pre-watershed, whistle -to -whistle” adver tising ban set to b e introduced in time for the 2019-20 football season in August.
GVC p l ay e d a k e y r o l e i n i n t r o d u c i n g t h e n e w r e s t r i c t i o n s b u t b e l i e ve s
the measures don’t go far enough, and is now calling o n l e a d i n g b o o k ma ke r s t o j o i n t o g e t h e r t o h e l p b r i n g a b o u t a m a j o r change in the marketing of betting firms.
In addi tion, the firm is calling for a ban on shir t sp onsorship and p erimeter advertising featuring gambling companies, to allow fans to support their team without any visible i n c e n t ive s t o b e t . I n t h e S c o t t i s h t o p f l i g h t , C e l tic (Dafabet), Hibs (Marathonbet), Motherwell (BetPark) and Rangers (32Red) all promote betting firms on their shir ts and trackside adverts are commonplace.
G V C i s a l s o u r g i n g increased investment in Research, Education and T r e a t m e n t ( R E T ) a n d treatment centres, along wi t h p r ov i d i n g t h e f r e e , safer gambling soft ware d u b b e d “G a m B a n ” t o individuals.
K e n ny A l e x a n d e r, t h e c h i e f e x e c u t i ve o f GVC , s a i d : “W h i l s t t h e v a s t majority of our customers enjoy our products responsibly, it is high time that the industr y did more to pro - t e c t i t s c u s t o me r s f r o m potential harm.
“As the UK’S largest gambling company, and owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, we at GVC are doing exactly that.
“I c a l l o n o u r i n d u s - tr y peers to help us bring about an end to broadcast a d ve r t i s i n g w h i c h p r o - mo t e s s p o r t s b e t t i n g i n the UK no matter the time of day.
“Increasing investment i n r e s e a r c h , e d u c a t i o n and treatment ten-fold by 2022, funding treatment centres and using technolog y to inter vene before a problem develops, alongside our existing b ehav - ioural analytics, brings to life our commitment to be the most trusted and enjoyable betting operator in the world.
“The industry should and can do more to protect the v u l n e r a b l e , a n d t o d ay ’s a n n o u n c e me n t d e m o n - strates GVC’S commitment to delivering on that.”
As well as the four divis i o n s o f t h e S P F L , S c o tland’s t wo major kno ckout competitions are sponsored by bookmakers, with William Hill backing the S cottish Cup and B etfred behind the League Cup.