Government wants to remove betting agencies from Premier League jerseys
A bill has been filed that will require many clubs to change sponsors for the 2023/24 season
Sports
May 23rd, 2022
May 23rd, 2022
The Premier League from the 2023-24 season could see betting agency advertisements disappear from team shirts. This would be the effect of the recommendation made by a House of Lords selective committee in 2020 that was included in a recent bill in an attempt to curb the problem of gambling in England. This is not the first time that local governments have banned betting agency advertising on team jerseys and stadium signage; in Italy the practice was banned in 2018 with the introduction of the Decreto Dignità while in LaLiga the stop came starting last season.
This season, half of the clubs involved in the Premier League had a betting agency as their sponsor, creating a decided problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible. In fact, while Championship teams will be given time to terminate their contracts with such sponsors and find new ones, a ban could be triggered for those in the Premier League, resulting in sanctions and lawsuits. England's second league to date is sponsored by Sky Bet, a major local agency, and a possible ban would cost more than £40 million per year.
That is why James Grimes, of The Big Step Group, told BBC Sport that "it is a welcome initiative, but to remove gambling from shirts, while still allowing for pitch-side advertising, league sponsorship and club partnerships, would be highly inconsistent. If the government recognizes that gambling can be harmful, as this decision suggests, then it must end all gambling advertising and sponsorship in soccer at all levels, not just on jerseys."
It is a contradiction that will have to be resolved soon, as a recent YouGov survey revealed how 1.4 million people in Britain are affected by gambling and over 1.5 million are at risk. However, the Premier League and Championship have, through their delegates, stated how there is no evidence of a causal relationship between advertising on shirts and gambling problems, as each ad is governed by guidelines decided by the government and messages to bet safely are emphasized."
This is but the first step in a story that promises to be a big shift because of the English people's deep tradition toward betting and the massive presence of betting agencies in the sports sponsorship landscape. And it is not certain that such a situation will not be repeated in a few years, for example with cryptocurrencies.
