The British government decided in December 2020 to review UK gambling regulations, a set of laws established in 2005. Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sports, said the review "will put the legal framework in the digital age."
The report was ready after 16 weeks of study, according to research by The Athletic, and has been ready since March. The material is expected to be revealed by the end of November.
Officially, British authorities say no decision has been taken. Behind the scenes, there are many sources that assure the local press that there will be changes. The Guardian and Daily Mail are other media whose findings point in the same direction.
If bookmaker advertising is banned in football, as expected, many clubs will have to return to the market to find replacements. At the moment, nine of the 20 Premier League clubs have bookmaker sponsorships on their jerseys:
Brentford
Burnley
Crystal Palace
Leeds United
Newcastle United
Southampton
Watford
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Values are not generally disclosed. In the case of West Ham, numbers were revealed by the press and give a sense of greatness: the club receives 10 million pounds per season until 2025.
In the second division, the impact will be severe. Trevor Birch, CEO of the English Football League (EFL), the organization that organizes the championship, estimates that the sum of sponsorships will reach 40 million pounds a year.
Sponsorship of bookmakers is not done in English football by British companies, not even European ones. In fact, this is another detail that has to do with government decisions.
Gambling is prohibited in China, but the local population represents a considerable part of the audience for this type of entertainment. So, Asian companies sponsor the Premier League because of the audience the tournament has in the country. The use of football to evade the Chinese government was also the subject of a report by The Athletic.
Managers have been dedicated to lobbying in favor of bookmakers. The EFL commissioned a theoretically independent study, the result of which was convenient for its economic interests: "there is no evidence" that jersey sponsorships exacerbate problems among gamblers.
On the other hand, there are cases like that of Peter Shilton, former England goalkeeper, who for 45 years has been fighting against gambling compulsion. He signed a petition, with over 12,000 people, for betting to be banned from football. This must be the outcome of the story.
Source: GE
