Last night, the decision of the Football Association to sell the FA Cup rights to the UK betting giant bet365 fuelled much concern and strong criticism.
Under the provisions of the six-year deal, bet365 would be allowed to show FA Cup matches both on its official website and its mobile application. Last weekend, in order to be able to watch the matches on the gambling company’s website, users were required to place a bet before the beginning of the match or create an account with a £5 deposit. Furthermore, the gambling operator accompanied the live footage with some betting odds encouraging viewers to wager.
Now, the links between the country’s football governing body and one of the largest gambling operators in the UK has fuelled much criticism. Even worse, the newly-signed agreement is considered a mockery of the promotion of mental health campaign which patron is Prince William.
It was only three years ago when the British Football Association openly revealed intentions to put a distance between the gambling industry and itself by surprisingly putting an end to its sponsorship contract with Ladbrokes that was estimated at £4-million on annual basis. On Tuesday night, a person close to the FA revealed that the country’s football governing body would review the arrangements of its deal with the third party that sold the rights to bet365, IMG, at the time when its contract with it is brought to an end of the following season.
As part of its deal with the FA, IMG has been granted the chance to sell live footage from the FA Cup matches to gambling operators. Reportedly, the agreement was estimated at £750 billion, with global media rights also being covered by the provisions of the contract.
British FA Faces Criticism from Local Anti-Gambling Campaigners
About £30 million every year are received by the FA to date. The Association established the FA Cup back in 1871, which makes it the oldest national football competition on a global scale.
Many anti-gambling campaigners have already criticised the agreement, describing it as a “shameful deal” that would end up with football fans, who only want to watch their favourite FA Cup club, being bombarded with online gambling promotion.
According to opponents of the newly-revealed agreement, the deal would corrupt the efforts that have lately been made to keep gambling away from football. The last few years have seen thousands of football fans, including underage ones, to be exposed to a massive number of gambling adverts. As Casino Guardian has already reported, as part of these efforts, local broadcasters have already been required to suspend gambling advertising from being aired during live sports events, football matches included.
The newly-revealed agreement fuelled wide-ranging criticism across the UK. Even Carolyn Harris MP called on the Football Association to break the deal, saying that the football governing body would have not inked the agreement should they have had “any moral compass”. According to her, the fact that football fans may be forced to open accounts with bet365 in order to be able to watch FA Cup games means they would be through into a culture of gambling where gambling is being normalised and could lead to serious negative consequences for their mental and physical health.
- Author
Daniel Williams
