Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton has joined the calls for further changes to be brought to gambling sponsorship laws in football, saying that football shirts have become a “backdoor way” for gambling companies to target younger audiences.
71-year-old Shilton, who has been suffering from gambling addiction for 45 years himself, was joined by other anti-gambling campaigners when he went to Downing Street to hand a petition in, seeking stricter measures to be imposed on the sector. The petition has been unveiled at a time when the UK Government is still reviewing the country’s gambling legislation, with a white paper expected to be published later in 2021 or early in 2022.
Two anti-gambling groups, Gambling with Lives and The Big Step, started the petition, in collaboration with the Soccer Shirt Gambling Ban campaign headed by Mr Shilton. The campaigners managed to collect more than 12,000 signatures since the beginning of the company earlier this year.
The Soccer Shirt Gambling Ban campaign of the former England goalkeeper is mostly focused on the impact that gambling companies’ logos displayed on football clubs’ shirts have on young people. In the current season, only two of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) do not have a sponsorship agreement with a gambling operator.
Gambling Advertising on Football Shirts Serves as “a Back Door” for Children, Shilton Says
Last year, Peter Shilton revealed that he struggled with problem gambling for 45 years. Now, he shared his concern that gambling among underage individuals in the UK is on the rise and his campaign seeking soccer shirt gambling sponsorships to be suspended in order to protect the most vulnerable members of society.
Reportedly, there are currently about 1.4 million adult Brits and 55,000 children addicted to gambling.
Campaigners have noted that professional football clubs’ partnership agreements with gambling operators have been playing an active role in the normalisation of gambling to both children and adults. Recent research suggests that each year between 250 and 650 people in the UK take their own lives because of gambling addiction.
According to Peter Shilton, football shirt gambling advertising serves as “a back door” for children to start gambling. Although an increasing number of clubs are leaving gambling advertising behind, the campaigners are willing to see stricter measures imposed on the sector so that football clubs are no longer allowed to display gambling logos on their shirts.
The Government is still reviewing the changes that are set to be brought to the 2005 Gambling Act but a spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shared that the provision of customer protection against gambling-related harm remains a paramount priority for the Government. The DCMS also confirmed that the authorities are expected to unveil new laws that would make the UK gambling legislation fit for the digital age, including marketing and advertising.
- Author
Daniel Williams
