Can community spirit help ease the pressure on under-fire football sponsorships?

GVC Holdings CEO Kenny Alexander caused quite a stir in the industry in April when he announced his firm would be calling for a total ban on televised sports betting advertising. Alexander insisted the soon-to-be implemented whistle-to-whistle ad ban would not go far enough in efforts to reduce the amount of gambling marketing, adding that an ad ban should apply at any time of day, including during both live and repeated sporting events, with horseracing the only exception.

“While I do think there is a place for raising awareness through safer gambling adverts, these should be strictly limited to one advertisement per commercial break,” said Alexander. “We need and want to revolutionise the existing gambling advertising system, but we cannot do this alone, so I call on our peers to come around the table, to support this move and make it happen,” he added.

The Scot also campaigned for an end to gambling sponsorship deals in football. “We are ending all shirt sponsorship deals and removing betting adverts on match-side hoardings, a move that we hope will be welcomed across the country,” he said. “Our aim is that the rest of the industry follows suit.”

And with that, the boss of the most powerful retail bookmaker in the UK had set his stall out. Britain’s tabloid media lapped it up, as did several anti-gambling political figures, including Labour’s shadow culture secretary Tom Watson. “This is a very welcome and significant intervention,” Watson wrote on Twitter. “I urge all betting company CEOs to follow Kenny Alexander’s example, to visit rehab centres for gambling addicts – and then challenge themselves to put people’s health before their company profits.” Strategically, Alexander had played a blinder.

The more cynical among us will note the irony in Watson’s final sentence. While there is no doubt that gambling firms need to do more to help protect the safety of their players – and GVC is unquestionably a leader in this space, having pledged to increase its research, education and treatment funding from 0.1% to 1.0% – the owners of Ladbrokes Coral (LCL) are unlikely to suffer too much as a result of a TV ban as they could still advertise throughout LCL’s vast retail estate.

Operators with little or no bricks and mortar presence (Sky Bet, Paddy Power and BetVictor) – which just so happen to be GVC’s major competitors – would struggle more as a result of the ban. GVC’s peripheral exchange brand Betdaq is also the only brand in the GVC portfolio to sponsor English football clubs, having signed partnership deals with League One outfits Sunderland and Charlton.

Eilers & Krejcik Gaming analyst Alun Bowden tweeted: “GVC calling for a ban on sports betting but not casino ads and only on TV and only in the UK you say? Oh and ending all sponsorships when it doesn’t actually sponsor anyone? Yep. I’m not viewing that cynically at all.”

No silver bullet

On the other side of the coin, Kindred-owned casino brand 32Red is well-embedded in football sponsorships. Its logo appears on the jerseys of Championship quintet Derby County, Preston North End, Middlesbrough, Leeds United and Aston Villa. Kindred is also a leader in sustainability and promoting safer gambling, and UK general manager Neil Banbury insists that the best way for the industry to tackle problem gambling is by having “balanced and informed debate” that is “grounded in facts and evidence”.

Kindred’s UK general manager Neil Banbury

Banbury says: “From my perspective, we need to consider all evidence because there is a risk that the debate will be diluted if it focuses solely on sponsorships or advertising. These are complicated issues and we don’t want to simplify them by pretending there is a silver bullet to fix them, as it is going to take a lot of commitment over the long-term from all parties involved.”

32Red announced a two-year extension to its sponsorship of Glasgow-based Scottish Premiership giants Rangers just one day after Alexander suggested an outright ban on front-of-shirt deals. When pressed on GVC’s position, Banbury says: “It is great that the industry talks more and commits more to helping to minimise harm, so we welcome some of the statements from GVC, but we risk diluting or simplifying things if we just pretend this is about advertising. We must be mindful of public opinion and recognise that it has been getting worse. I believe the public want to see an open and competitive market and one that takes issues seriously.” He adds: “The focus should be in making much better education available for existing customers and prospective customers.”

Banbury believes operators can use their relationships with football clubs to help develop the tools and processes that are designed to prevent problem gambling. 32Red has certainly had its problems with the UK Gambling Commission, but new customers are encouraged to set their own limits and spending frameworks. “All operators have these tools and these are a much better place to be focusing our attention rather than just not sponsoring football clubs – that is an over-simplification,” Banbury reiterates.

Banbury is more closely aligned with GVC’s views on television advertising than on sponsorship. The volume and tone of sports betting adverts, during live football matches in particular, is one of the biggest culprits in the acceleration of ill-will towards the sector. Two of the worst offenders are Ladbrokes and Coral. Ladbrokes’ use of Jay from The Inbetweeners as a botched superhero or a dumbed-down Kriss Akabusi failing to understand a simple punchline can grate during the half-time break – even if the campaigns are deliberately brash to stick in the mind of the consumer.

What people have proposed is a step towards addressing the quantity of ads that we see on television and GVC went one step further, says Banbury. “But I think it is good for us as an industry to think about the quality of our advertising as well. There is room in that area to improve the perception of the sector and there is a big opportunity for us to advertise better. We should all consider doing that, and the whistle-to-whistle ban was well received as the first positive step.”

Part of the proposals unveiled by Alexander in April made a concession for one safer gambling advert per commercial break, and Banbury admits that operators need to make this an integral part of their marketing strategies in the future to suppress the hostile coverage in the UK media. During the 2018-19 football season, Kindred used LED advertising sponsor boards at football grounds to promote limit-setting responsible gambling tools and advice to help customers stay in control of their online gaming.

Banbury salutes Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) as the leader in this arena. Sky unveiled a new TV advertising campaign dedicated solely to responsible gambling back in October 2018, and it has transformed into a real success. The operator used famous faces from Sky Sports News’ Gillette Soccer Saturday, including veteran anchor Jeff Stelling, to highlight Sky Bet’s ‘Three Simple Tools’ – profit and loss trackers, cool-off periods and deposit limits.

“That is something we want to do more of and we are talking about how we can scale that messaging up and on which marketing channel,” says Banbury. “I think Sky Bet has done a great job of making responsible gambling messages look less like something just stuck on the end of an advert and they have really led the way there, while adding meaning to When The Fun Stops, Stop.”

A new model

32Red also wants to change the entire model of football sponsorships. For too long, casino firms and betting operators have thrown money at football teams, and also in other sports, as front-of-shirt deals provide vital exposure for embryonic and Asian-facing firms looking to appeal to a mass global market of Premier League punters.

Few of those firms however think about the punters themselves and in this new world of egaming where responsible gambling must be the priority at all times that must change. Banbury and the rest of the Kindred UK team set the wheels in motion by collaborating with Derby County mental health scheme, Team Talk.

Derby manager Frank Lampard visiting a Team Talk hub

The Championship club has set up a wellbeing hub in the city, which offers support to fans that may be suffering with depression or anxiety. English football fans aren’t exactly renowned for opening up about their feelings and that is exactly why they deserve to be heard, according to Banbury.

“Team Talk is a great scheme that helps people with mild mental health issues like depression and anxiety and it uses the power of football, and the fact clubs have big fan bases as a vehicle, to reach a demographic that is perhaps suffering in silence slightly more than other demographics,” he says.

Kindred says that leveraging the power of a football club is an important way to reach an audience on this subject that would be otherwise difficult to reach. Banbury adds: “Conceptually it is much easier to commit to something or involve yourself in something coming from the football club that you love, rather than seeking help in a more formal setting.” This is reinforced by the attendance of Derby County head coach and former Chelsea and England legend, Frank Lampard, at one session.

The Stockholm-listed operator has pledged to fund four new Team Talk hubs across Derby’s city centre, taking the total to five – with scope to build on that number across its other teams and partnerships, after writing up evidence-based conclusions on how the centres perform.

Kindred has implemented a sustainability framework over the last few years which touches on everything from environmental impact to comfort in the workplace. Part of the framework includes contributing to communities where the operator has offices (Malta, Stockholm, London, Sydney and Paris) but also where commercial deals are in place with partners that have a huge local presence.

Banbury has described the deal as a long-term investment for Kindred, with the operator keen to learn about which approaches work and which don’t. Another initiative signed off by the firm is in Scotland with Rangers. 32Red is the front-of-shirt sponsor for the club, having been partners for the last seven seasons – and recently extended that deal again up until 2021.

32Red has been chief sponsor of The Rangers Charity Foundation’s Big Ibrox Sleep Outs, where fans are given the opportunity to sleep outside overnight in the club’s Ibrox Stadium to raise awareness of homelessness and support Glasgow City Mission’s Winter Night Shelter. In 2018, the casino operator kickstarted every participant’s fundraising with a £10 donation and also forked out for everyone to enjoy a hot breakfast in the morning after the event.

In the first-ever Sleep Out event in 2015, supporters raised £70,000, which kept the Winter Night Shelter open during the month of March, when it would usually be closed, for the next three years, as well as paying for advocacy services for those forced to use the shelter. This has increased steadily year-on-year and really goes to show that a little can go a very long way.

Adapt or die

Alexander’s call to end all advertising stirred up much debate in the egaming sector. Advertising has been the biggest stick for consumers to berate the industry over the head with and ditching it outright could help appease even the angriest of anti-gambling voices. But should the industry be taking that approach or should it be preparing to fight its own battle? Several industry figures have used EGR Marketing magazine as a call-to-arms for an industry spokesperson, who can go toe-to-toe with the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, as the pro-industry voice on Good Morning Britain or in the Sunday newspapers.

One of those asking for a responsible spokesperson to stand up and be counted is Bede Gaming chairman Joe Saumarez Smith. He says that all community initiatives like 32Red’s should be well-received but he stopped short of backing the proposals put forth by GVC CEO Alexander.

“I think what 32Red is doing is a great initiative and any time gambling companies put community engagement at the centre of their marketing they should be applauded,” says Saumarez Smith. “But my personal feeling is that it should be part of a mix and that we need to have a sensible conversation about what is and isn’t acceptable in sponsorships.”

He adds: “I personally think that ending sports sponsorships entirely would be an over-reaction, and one that many sports would be very upset about, given the level of financial support that comes through those sponsorships especially for the smaller sports. Clearly gambling companies should not be marketing to children and there does need to be tighter controls to ensure that there are no questions of integrity, but I don’t feel that gambling companies should be forced to stop sponsoring darts and snooker players, for example.”

GVC’s Betdaq has ended its football partnerships

Other members of the commentariat are less convinced. Secretariat for the Parliamentary All Party Betting & Gaming Group, Steve Donoughue, believes that some anti-industry protestors are so relentless in their pursuit to halt gambling as a genuine leisure activity that even a voluntary offer to remove sports betting ads on TV from arguably the biggest firm in the UK industry won’t help.

“While both Kindred and GVC’s initiatives have their merits, I don’t think they will move the dial one notch in British gambling’s inevitable destination as the new tobacco,” Donoughue tells EGR Marketing. “Such gestures ignore the fact that gambling has lost its permission to speak in the political debate and that the anti-gambling forces are on the charge.

“Unless the industry realises that they are fighting for their life and it is willing to spend the tens of millions needed to totally reset the relationship between gambling and the press, they will lose hundreds of times that amount overnight. The trouble is that our CEOs are too complacent and our trade associations are incapable of the job at hand,” he adds.

The trade association point is a good one. Representation of the industry is up in the air at present, as the formation of a new gambling trade body won’t be complete until the end of this year. The new association will encompass all facets of gambling, from online sports betting in the UK to land-based casino suppliers worldwide, so how will it ensure that all members are on the same page?

One thing you can guarantee is that Alexander and GVC will be heavily involved in the new body, however it shapes up. Alexander was keen to point out in April that he was the first CEO to call for the whistle-to-whistle TV ban on live sports, while GVC was the first operator to announce it would voluntarily reduce the maximum stake on B2 gaming machines in Northern Ireland, insisting “it was the right thing to do”, but Alexander hasn’t got GVC to where they are today by making decisions out of the kindness of his heart.

Perhaps Kindred’s approach of giving something back to the communities they serve will help win the naysayers over in time.