GambleAware calls for greater commitment to safer gambling in football
Charity has planned meetings with Premier League and FA to address sponsorship links with bookmakers
GambleAware CEO Marc Etches has called on English football to make “a broader commitment” to promoting safer gambling in the upcoming football season.
Speaking exclusively to EGR Compliance, Etches said GambleAware was concerned about the growing commercial relationship between professional sport and gambling, and specifically “the role this relationship plays in normalising of gambling for young people”.
Etches also confirmed he has requested discussions with both the Premier League and the FA on responsible gambling. He confirmed discussions had taken place between GambleAware and the English Football League (EFL) and welcomed the commitment made by it and Sky Bet to pursue a responsible gambling-led agenda in the new season.
Etches added: “We would encourage all those involved in professional sports to share in the responsibility to ensure a better understanding of the nature of gambling, the risks involved and where to go for help if it is needed.”
The calls come amid a flurry of football sponsorship activity during the last couple of months, with 17 of the 24 teams in the EFL championship being sponsored by gambling firms including bet365, Betway, LeoVegas and 32Red. These numbers have grown since the 2017/18 season, when 13 clubs were sponsored by gambling related companies.
At a Premier League level, the number of clubs being directly sponsored by gambling companies has risen to nine in the off-season.
Prior to the start of the 2017/18 season, GambleAware wrote to all Premier League clubs with shirt sponsorships from gambling companies asking them to do more to reduce gambling related harm.
Of those which replied, Etches said he was “pleased” with the response from Crystal Palace, which displayed responsible gambling messages and advertisements around Selhurst Park during the final three games of the Premier League season.
Addressing the Crystal Palace initiatives, Etches added: “We will continue to encourage more clubs to follow their lead. Football clubs work closely with their local communities and they could work with us to reduce gambling-related harm in those communities.”
According to research conducted by the Gambling Commission in December, the number of problem gamblers in the UK has risen by 150,000, to 430,000. The report revealed that over 370,000 children aged 11 to 16 gamble with their own money, with 25,000 of these being problem gamblers.
GambleAware has recently commissioned a study to investigate whether these two factors are interrelated.