Ban on gambling company shirt sponsorship on the cards

Back in 2020, the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced it would be undertaking a review of the Gambling Act. The findings and recommendations from this review are due in a soon to be published white paper.

Word on the street (according to the BBC) is that one of the recommendations will be that English Premier League teams will no longer be able to bear the names of gambling companies on their shirts.

It’s not the first time such a ban has been mooted. The House of Lords select committee suggested the very same thing a couple of year ago. Albeit with the caveat that current sponsorship deals should be honoured until their expiry so as not to create undue upheaval for clubs. It’s not known whether a similar provision will be included in the DCMS’ white paper.

Online gambling sponsorship of EPL (and EFL) teams has long been a questioned by the anti-gambling fraternity in the UK. There was a time when Asian gambling firms dominated EPL sponsorship. A requirement to be locally licensed was then introduced and EPL shirts had a few less 8s on them.

Still, for the 2021/22 season, almost half the teams in the EPL have an online gambling company on their shirts.

Online gambling sponsorship in the wider EFL is also prolific and not just on shirts. This fact has some wondering whether the proposed ban is a little too narrow.