Don’t bet on football’s gambling tie-ups being banned
THERE is no certainty betting firms will be banned from advertising on football club shirts when the government’s review of Britain’s gambling laws concludes later this year, according to Whitehall sources.
The development comes as a Mail on Sunday ‘audit’ reveals that the 92 clubs in England’s top four divisions have at least 193 separate sponsorship or advertising contracts with gambling firms between them, collectively worth £116.8m.
Of those 193 deals, eight are shirt sponsors at Premier League clubs, 12 are shirt sponsors in the Championship, and two are shirt sponsors in the bottom two divisions, although neither of those, while still ‘principal partners’, actually now appear on the shirts (at Ipswich and Wigan) after fan kickback at the deals.
In Scotland, Rangers’ shirt sponsors are 32Red, a British online casino company. Celtic’s shirt sponsors are betting company Dafabet, whose deal runs until 2025.
An outright ban on gambling shirt deals has long been mooted and in recent months it has been suggested Prime Minister Boris Johnson might personally push for this.
‘It’s an option and not ruled out, although it’s becoming clear that gambling money is an important revenue stream at some clubs,’ said one insider.
Asked if shirt sponsorship might be banned as all other gambling tie-ups remain legal, whether via official club ‘betting partners’, pitch-side hoarding adverts for gambling firms or in-stadium betting providers, another person familiar with the review said: ‘Nothing is off the table. You could see nothing banned or everything banned, but I wouldn’t think the latter.’
Rick Parry, the chairman of the EFL and thus responsible for the 72 English clubs in the three divisions below the Premier League, said earlier this month that a ban on gambling sponsorship in football would be ‘catastrophic’.
Arguing that there is nothing intrinsically harmful about betting firm ads, he told the Financial Times: ‘There’s no evidence to suggest banning sponsorship will reduce the prevalence of problem gambling.’
Some would argue otherwise, citing leaps in gambling addiction as betting has become more ‘normalised’ and accessible, not least via the internet. The Royal College of Psychiatrists say that ‘problem gambling’ (defined as ‘gambling that disrupts or damages personal, family or recreational pursuits’), affects almost one per cent of people and that seven per cent ‘gamble at risky levels that can become a problem in the future’. Other studies estimate there are between 300,000 to 1.2million problem gamblers in the UK.
The review will be finished ‘in months not weeks’ and even when recommendations are made or the law is changed, any amendments are likely to be phased in over a period of years rather than in one go.
The majority of the betting deals bring in relatively small sums, with even Premier League clubs averaging around £250,000 a year from betting-related hoarding ads.
Ladbrokes previously sponsored the SPFL but they opted not to extend their partnership after season 2019/20.