Betting Sponsors To Be Banned In Great Britain?
In the 2019-20 English Premier League season, half of all clubs have a betting main kit sponsor. Now it seems more likely than ever that betting sponsors will be not longer allowed in Great Britain in the near future.
British Parliament: Betting Sponsors Should Be Banned In Sports
The British Parliament set up a cross-party committee to look at the impact of the UK's gambling industry. The result of the report of the committee is not a good news for British clubs and betting sponsors.
"Premier League clubs should not be allowed to have betting firms on their shirts", the House of Lords Select Committee report has recommended. It also says such sponsors on Championship club shirts should be phased out by 2023, and that other sports should end shirt betting sponsorship in three years.
This season, half of Premier League clubs and 17 of 24 Championship clubs are sponsored by bookmakers.
The recommendations are part of a 192-page report warning more needs to be done to prevent gambling-related harm, with the Gambling Act 2005 under review by ministers.
The committee's recommendations also state: "There should be no gambling advertising in or near any sports grounds or sports venues, including sports programmes."
Restrictions on shirt sponsorship and other advertising "should not take effect for clubs below the Premier League before 2023. A similar flexibility should be allowed in the case of other sports".
The EFL (English Football League) said in a statement: "The association between football and the gambling sector is long-standing and the League firmly believes a collaborative, evidence-based approach to preventing gambling harms that is also sympathetic to the economic needs of sport will be of much greater benefit than the blunt instrument of blanket bans."
The Premier League said that it would be a "welcome participant" in the government review of the Gambling Act.
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