It will be at least September until the White Paper on gambling reform in the UK is published. The first week of that month will see the new Prime Minister chosen. Meanwhile the gambling industry waits to see just what lies in store for them.
It’s not just gambling companies though, English Premier League clubs are also concerned about the future. Many have front-of-shirt sponsorship deals in place with companies from the betting world.
The rumours are that the UK government wants to see Premier League clubs voluntarily agree to phase out such sponsorship deals. A meeting is due on July 26 where clubs will discuss the matter but we don’t know if a vote will take place.
It’s not just the front of a shirt that earns sponsorship revenue. Since the 2017/18 season, sleeve sponsorship has also been possible. Reports suggest that if a voluntary ban on front-of-shirt deals goes ahead, they will still be able to have the name of gambling-related sponsors on their sleeves.
The claim is that advertising on a sleeve isn’t as visible as on the front of a shirt. The loss of a gambling sponsor will leave a big hole in the finances of clubs but this would soften the blow slightly.
If a voluntary ban does go ahead, how will this affect Everton and Bournemouth who recently signed lucrative deals with Stake.com and Dafabet respectively?
The vote may be on a voluntary ban but phased in over three years. Existing deals that expire no later than the 2024/25 Premier League campaign would be allowed. That would give clubs time to find new sponsors.
While the Premier League clubs would prefer no kind of ban, they may not have too much choice. At least 14 of the 20 clubs have to agree to the voluntary ban for it to pass. If that doesn’t happen, the new Prime Minister may decide to go down the compulsory banning route.
The situation appears therefore to try and get as much time to phase in such a ban and keep the sleeve sponsorship. Clubs also have official betting partners, so if that was retained that would see more funds being received.
Another problem is that this is only referring to Premier League clubs. The lower league clubs in England have plenty of gambling-related sponsorship deals. That’s topped by the sponsorship of the English Football League by Sky Bet.
This is just one of the worries that the White Paper is causing the gambling industry. When gamblers register with new online casinos, they need to choose a payment method. One popular method offered by online casinos is PayPal. However, it’s believed the government is looking at increasing affordability checks at these sites. Can gamblers afford the amounts they are taking out of their PayPal account if that’s their chosen method?
It’s not just the impending White Paper that is causing problems for the gambling industry and sports stars. From October, it won’t be possible to include sports stars, reality TV personalities and social media influencers as part of a gambling-related advertisement.
Therefore, you can see it is a worrying time at present. The uncertainty isn’t easy to cope with but hopefully in September, more will be known about what lies ahead for Premier League clubs and the UK gambling industry.
