Gaelic Players Association calls for Irish ad ban on live sport

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has called on the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to ban betting ads during live broadcasts of Gaelic sports from 2021.

The GPA wants to see the association write such a ban into its official rules, with the ban to be discussed at the GAA Congress central council meeting at the end of March.

Justifying its calls for a ban, the GPA claimed the proliferation of online betting and the availability of betting advertising around Gaelic games has helped develop a “worrying cultural issue” with gambling in the GAA.

“We believe that the GAA, through its relationships with its broadcast partners, has the ability to prevent the broadcast of gambling ads during matches.

“Removing this intrinsic link between inter-county games and betting advertising reduces the risk of vulnerable members of the association developing issues with problem gambling,” the GPA said.

The request follows a December 2019 report by Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in which 80% of GAA inter-county footballers surveyed said they engaged in gambling on a daily or weekly basis.

GPA CEO Paul Flynn said: “This information informs us of their views on issues of great importance to them and their playing experiences. This guides our policy developments and strategy initiatives.

“Both the GAA and the GPA have long been leaders in this area and we’ll now work with the central council to take another big step towards removing the link between gambling and our games,” Flynn added.

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