The Premier League has asked the 20 clubs of the league to voluntarily drop the use of gambling brands on their shirts. It is a move made in a bid to stave off a more heavyweight intervention from the government that could completely ban the advertising of gambling at football matches.
At the moment, seven Premier League teams such as Newcastle United, West Ham United and Southampton have shirts that feature the names and logos of gambling brands. While none of the so-called ‘big six’ of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Tottenham have such deals, the income gained from sponsorships with gambling companies is clearly hugely valuable.
The Premier League currently has relatively lax restrictions on gambling when compared to other leagues in countries like Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
This means that gambling companies can advertise anything from their brand name on the shirts of the players to deals like the BetRivers online casino promo codes everywhere from the stadium to the TV adverts shown at half-time. However, all of that could be set to change under the Premier League’s new proposals.
The end of an era?
Under the plan, all of the clubs in the Premier League would be expected to remove the use of betting companies from their shirts within three years. However, the voluntary ban would come into effect at the start of the new Premier League season which begins on August 5.
The fact that there is a three-year transition period means that any current deals between Premier League clubs and gambling brands could run their course as long as they have expired before the start of the 2024-25 season.
As it stands, at least 14 clubs would have to support the proposal in order for it to take immediate effect. It is currently unclear as to when this vote would take place, but the signs are that it could be delayed until September after the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, steps down from his role.
There has been growing political pressure for the Premier League to make such a move over recent months. While many of the smaller football clubs like Brentford are reliant on the revenues gained from such sponsorship deals, it is felt that the issue has gone on too long and a swift resolution must be reached.
Interestingly, the government appears to have stepped down plans to introduce more stringent regulation and there is much less willingness to introduce an outright ban on gambling brands on football shirts. Instead, it seems that the voluntary agreement is the more likely option and the big six clubs are thought to be in favour of the ban – especially as none of them have shirt sponsorship deals with gambling firms.
All of this comes ahead of white paper of gambling reforms that is due to land in the coming months. This looks to provide the most in-depth review of the current gambling laws in the UK and the role of advertising is going to be a pivotal issue.
While the voluntary ban would deal with shirt sponsorship, it looks like the Premier League would allow such gambling advertising to continue around the perimeter of the stadium grounds. This is in addition to the average of 700 adverts for gambling that appear on Premier League TV broadcasts, as well as adverts in match programmes and so on.
So while we can expect to see big changes in what Premier League shirts will look like, it seems that gambling is set to remain a large part of the beautiful game.