JOHNSON & CABINET COMMITTED TO FOOTBALL GAMBLING SHIRT SPONSORSHIP BAN

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and his cabinet, are likely to support a ban on gambling shirt sponsorships in football.

According to The Daily Telegraph, sources “close to Downing Street” have confirmed that Johnson and senior cabinet members are committed to implementing drastic reforms to the UK’s gambling sector, including the shirt sponsorship ban. 

Despite Johnson’s cabinet insisting reforms will be “led by the evidence” put forth in the DCMS’ ongoing review, the anti-gambling lobby, led by pressure groups and supported by MP’s like Labour’s Carolyn Harris, have been increasingly vocal in their calls for drastic action. 

Claiming to have the support of “two-thirds” of the British public, along with broad cross-party political backing, they have been calling for blanket Italian/Spanish-style advertising bans, and more draconian restrictions like spending limits. 

The British betting and sports industry have mounted a strong defence, pointing out that sports clubs, large and small, depend heavily on gambling sponsorships, and that further restrictions could also push customers into the arms of unscrupulous black market operators.

To counter the funding argument, the government is said to be considering a “sports rights levy”, which would be paid by betting operators to compensate for the lack of sponsorship revenues. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pushing many smaller sports clubs to the brink of bankruptcy, the UK betting industry as a whole already subject to some of the world’s most stringent regulations, responsible operators already abandoning the market, and the government needing tax revenues more than ever, introducing more rules and restrictions right now is blatantly insane. 

As for the argument that the COVID-19 crisis demands stricter rules, the UKGC itself recently concluded the pandemic has led to “no significant increase” in gambling. 

What should be apparent to anyone paying attention is the following:

1. For many years the gambling industry did itself no favours at all, and it is probably too late to repair its image.
2. Despite claiming to be objective, those pressure groups and politicians leading the calls for more controls are ideologically opposed to gambling, and no restrictions will ever go far enough.

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