The English Premier League is all set to lose several gambling front-of-shirt sponsorships.
As part of the 2005 UK Gambling Act review, several betting and gambling firms will be banned from appearing as the front-of-shirt sponsors of multiple Premier League clubs.
Brigid Simmonds, Chair of the Betting and Gaming Council, said, “One person with a problem is too many. For the last 20 years, the industry has been the sole funder of research, education, and treatment, and only very recently has the NHS come in and decided that they’re going to set up new centres, I have visited the one in Leeds and what was absolutely clear from that is that many of those who have a problem with gambling have problems in other areas and this is where it’s got to be embedded in the NHS so that we help those people.”
Nine of the total 20 clubs in the Premier League have a betting firm as their front-of-shirt sponsor and the ban will have a major impact on the revenue of those clubs.
Simmons added that “As an industry, we’ve just announced that we’re going to spend another £100 million by 2024 on funding the national helpline, on funding Gamble Aware and on funding the 10 million that we’ve just put into education through YGAM and GamCare, the Department of Education is now involved because it’s now a PSHE requirement that you look at something around the risks. However, it can’t be left to just the industry alone so I hope that some of this will be thought through a little further.”
The review of the Gambling act began near the end of last year and the prohibition will lead to big losses to the club and the companies alike. The ban will also affect the pitch side and LED branding throughout the club’s facilities.