Gambling Sponsorship and Advertising in British Football: A Critical Account

ABSTRACT

Problem gambling is a growing public health issue in the UK. In this paper, we argue that football plays a problematic role in the promotion and normalisation of gambling. Given that sport broadcasts offer gambling (and alcohol) companies a loophole to avoid the post-watershed guidelines, children and young people are also exposed. By marketing gambling in general and to children in particular, football contributes to an increase in the overall ‘amount’ of gambling in society. In turn, this contributes to an increase in the prevalence of problem gambling (including gambling disorder) and all the associated harms. Furthermore, we argue that a significant amount of gambling profits come from problem gamblers. Therefore, football benefits from, and contributes to, the addictive consumption of gamblers.

KEYWORDS:

• Gambling
• football
• sponsorship
• advertising

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/rangers/a-brief-history-of-joey-barton-s-football-controversies-1-4234191 accessed 28/01/2018.

2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/30308203 accessed 12/05/2017 .

3. However, alcohol companies, most notably Carlsberg, have begun exploiting loopholes which enable them to market their products prominently during sporting tournaments (Carlsberg engaged in ‘Alibi’ marketing by displaying ‘probably’ and ‘the best in the world’ rather than ‘Carlsberg’ Purves et al. 2017).

4. See Jones (2015).

5. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/uk-gambling-industry-takes-14bn-year-punters accessed 28/01/2018.

6. http://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/news/problem-gamblers-cost-uk-government-1-2-billion-per-year/ accessed 28/01/2018.

7. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm accessed 28/01/2018.

8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/30716977 accessed 24/05/2017.

9. Certain gambling products are considered highly addictive because of certain features such as frequency of stake.

10. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1310_aps.pdf .

11. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/22/nearly-one-third-of-alcohol-sold-in-england-drunk-by-4-of-population accessed 24/01/2018.

12. There was controversy following the FA cup tie between Sutton United versus Arsenal. Sutton’s reserve goalkeeper ate a pie on the substitute’s bench during the game. Sun Bets had offered odds of 8–1 on the ‘large’ player eating a pie during the game. The incident was investigated by the FA. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/sutton-arsenal-wayne-shaw-pie-bet-goalkeeper-gambling-the-sun-fa-a7590781.html accessed 28/01/2018.

13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/24354124 accessed 28/01/2018.

14. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/ accessed 28/01/2018.

15. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-parents-oct-2013 accessed 18/02/2019.

16. Trends in Advertising Activity—Gambling (2013) Ofcom—available https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/53387/trends_in_ad_activity_gambling.pdf accessed 28/01/2018.

17. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/28/itv-gets-warm-glow-from-ratings-as-iceland-freeze-out-england accessed 28/01/2018.

18. http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1306395/gary-lineker-condemns-dangerous-alcohol-betting-brand-sport-sponsorship-deals accessed 7/06/2017.

19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44564869 accessed 12/09/2018.

20. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/15/children-bombarded-with-betting-adverts-during-world-cup accessed 12/09/2018.

21. In the 2017/2018 season, 9 out of the 20 teams have a gambling company as their main sponsor.

22. The number of children purchasing National Lottery products fell from 11% in 2011 to 4% in 2017 while private betting fell from 12% in 2011 to 5%. See Wardle (2018) for more information.

23. Challenge 25 requires employees to ask for age verification for customers attempting to purchase age-restricted products (alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, explicit magazines, scratch cards, medicines and Red bull), if that customer looks under 25, regardless of the fact the minimum age to purchase certain products might be 16 or 18.

24. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/survey-data/Young-People-and-Gambling-2018-Report.pdf accessed 10/01/2019.

25. https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/betting-and-gaming-appeal-to-children.html accessed 19/12/2018.

26. One of Blessed’s other notable roles is Grampy Rabbit in the popular children’s cartoon Peppa Pig.

27. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/22/fa-announces-end-to-sponsorship-deals-with-betting-companies.

28. We claim that the discussion is complex because there are two closely related issues, namely, the right and freedom to gamble and the right and freedom to see gambling promotion.