Campaigners Hand Downing Street Petition to Kick Gambling Ads Out of Football

^{Campaigners delivered a petition calling on the Government to remove gambling advertising from football to 10 Downing Street last week. (Photo: Peter McDermott / Wikimedia Commons)}

The Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA) has delivered a petition to 10 Downing Street calling on the Government to kick gambling advertising out of football, with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Gambling Reform backing the move, iGaming Business reported. The campaign follows a House of Lords committee's call for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising.

Petition Goes to Downing Street

In a post on LinkedIn, CEGA wrote: "We've just handed in our petition to 10 Downing St calling on the Government to kick gambling ads out of football!" The coalition thanked the more than 27,800 people who had signed and said the petition remained open.

The petition, hosted by 38 Degrees and addressed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, asks the Government to "put young fans ahead of profits." It argues that children cannot legally gamble yet are exposed to gambling messages through shirt sponsorship, pitch-side hoardings, stadium branding and in-game promotions.

The petition also points to FIFA's partnerships allowing gambling operators to livestream World Cup games and show advertising in stadiums. It says the tournament is set to introduce millions of young fans to football, and that this makes it the moment to act.

According to iGaming Business, the APPG convened several meetings on Wednesday that brought together MPs, peers, academics and campaigners to discuss fresh evidence and possible policy measures. CEGA and Clean Up Gambling attended alongside former professional footballers. After the event, the APPG publicly endorsed the petition delivery.

New Evidence Presented in Parliament

Research from the University of Bristol was also presented in Parliament on 21 October, according to the university's press release. Researchers recorded 15,571 gambling messages across the Premier League's opening weekend, and found at least one gambling message was visible for five hours and 16 minutes of live match coverage, almost a fifth of broadcast time.

The study estimated that the front-of-shirt restriction contributed to a reduction of only 10.5% in messages during live matches, while branding on shirt sleeves and training kits rose by 362%. Pitch-side advertising accounted for 72% of all live-match messages. Casinos.com covered the findings in more detail when the Bristol study was published.

Project lead Dr Raffaello Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol Business School, said in the release:

The front of shirt ban was effective in removing gambling logos from shirt fronts, but it did not remove them from football.

Calls for Legislation Grow

The Bristol report calls for legislation rather than self-regulation, including a comprehensive whistle-to-whistle ban covering all forms of gambling marketing during sporting events. It concludes that four years of evidence show voluntary measures have not reduced the volume of marketing around football.

The House of Lords Liaison Committee reached a similar view in September, recommending a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising. The APPG, working with Peers for Gambling Reform, published its own report earlier this year calling for a pre-9pm watershed ban on gambling adverts and a ban on sporting sponsorships, iGaming Business said.

The debate is not one-sided. iGaming Business reported that Conservative MP Charlie Dewhirst stressed the importance of gambling revenue to sport and broadcasting in a parliamentary debate and cautioned that harsh curbs could push customers to unlicensed overseas operators. Labour MP Alex Ballinger, in the same debate, pointed to research showing thousands of gambling-related messages during a single Premier League weekend.