Clubs met earlier today (13) to take a final vote on the issue that had been the subject of discussion for some time. Talks were also held with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the government’s delayed review of gambling legislation.
The Premier League said it would look at working with other sports on the development of a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship across the professional sports sector.
“Premier League clubs have today collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling advertising,” the Premier League said in a statement.
A total of eight clubs currently have shirt sponsorship agreements in place with gambling operators including Aston Villa, Everton and Brentford. A number of teams also have partnerships with operators that do not include shirt branding or logo placement.
Campaign groups had called for an end to gambling-related shirt sponsorship agreements for a number of years. In July last year, The Big Step, a campaign dedicated to stopping such deals, wrote an open letter urging clubs to drop these types of partnerships.
Eight clubs in the Premier League have betting companies as their primary shirt sponsors, with Everton (Stake) and West Ham (Betway) having the most significant deals at £10m each season.
Source: iGB
