A recent survey revealed that one-third of football fans in the UK hold off spending money on their favourite team’s kit in case it is sponsored by a gambling company. The survey also found there is widespread support among football fans to see the competent authorities cut the ties between football and the gambling industry.
Currently, of the 44 top football clubs in English football championships, a total of 26 have a gambling operator logo displayed on their shirts. The last few years have seen a massive increase in the number of betting firms that ink sponsorship agreements with leading football clubs, as bookmakers are doing their best to expand their presence and be seen by more people on a global scale during games broadcast.
However, a recent poll carried out by Survation shared with The Guardian that it seems football fans in the UK have grown tired of the constant attempts of the gambling sector to target the most popular sports clubs in the world, along with their fans. More than 1,000 football fans took part in the survey, which found that about one-third of the participants prefer not to purchase their favourite football club’s kit in case the club is sponsored by a gambling operator.
For years now, partnerships with gambling companies have been seen by football clubs as additional funding, such sponsorship agreements also enable TV channels to broadcast more sports content than they would otherwise be able to. According to the Betting & Gaming Council, gambling plays a vital role when it comes to differentiating gambling companies that offer legal services from the ones operating in the black market that put customers in danger, as they do not comply with the safety protections required from the competent authorities and regulators in the UK.
Sponsorship Agreements Seen as a Way for Gambling Companies to Expand Presence in Sports
Survation’s poll also revealed that almost 50% of the survey participants support a ban on the display of gambling company logos on football club shirts. This measure had been proposed by Tom Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party who has recently taken a job with the largest online gambling operator on a global scale, Flutter Entertainment.
The British gambling industry’s trade body, the Betting and Gaming Council, which is led by the former Labour Party MP Michael Dugher, commented that the so-called “whistle-to-whistle” ban imposed on the gambling ads during televised sports events before the 9:00 PM watershed resulted in a 97% decline of such commercials during those times.
Still, the survey that was commissioned by the anti-gambling campaigners from Clean Up Gambling as part of a new coalition against gambling commercials, showed that two-thirds of football fans do not believe the restrictive measure has done much about the reduction of the overall level of advertising in the country. The same number of survey participants also noted that online casino, slot machine and sports betting providers release too many advertisements aimed at luring football fans into gambling.
As mentioned above, the survey was carried out in partnership between several groups aimed at reducing gambling advertising in sports, including Gambling With Lives, The Big Step and Clean Up Gambling. Matt Zarb-Cousin, who heads Clean Up Gambling, noted that the Government would get football fans’ support in case it takes more restrictive measures against gambling advertising. According to Mr Zarb-Cousin, football clubs in the UK would also benefit from a shirt sales increase.
- Author
Daniel Williams
