Sponsorship deals with online gambling sites are putting teams at reputational risk, argues Lisa Buchan
Britons wager close to £50billion ($97bn) a year, and online
betting
– especially on sports events – is booming. According to recent
research by the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport, there are
3.3 million regular online gamblers in Europe, and a third of them are
in the UK. Punters increasingly find their way to gambling websites
through links from other sites, often those of mainstream institutions
such as football clubs who, as ‘affiliates’, earn commission on any
transactions that are generated via the internet.
Betting has become such an integral part of the British football scene
that every premier league club website – with the notable exception of
Everton – has links to ‘official online betting partners’. Several
premier league clubs also have shirt sponsorship deals with internet
gambling sites: replica shirts bearing their logos are available in all
sizes – including for toddlers. Building customers from the club’s fan
base via the website is a key component of internet gambling
sponsorship. Young people account for a large portion of any club’s
supporters, and many clubs have a major drive on to build ‘fans of the
future’ with free or heavily discounted tickets. Inevitably young
supporters will consult club websites and buy strips with sponsors’
logos. What influence does the promotion of gambling have on them?
Football clubs are not the only ones doing business with gambling
partners. In other sectors, especially the media, there are similar
marketing deals. The websites of all the UK tabloid newspapers and
several of the ‘qualities’, including The Guardian, have links to
online betting or gambling sites. But the issue is now coming to a
head. Under the UK’s new gambling laws, the Advertising Standards
Authority is required ‘to ensure that all gambling advertising is
responsible with particular regard to the need to protect children,
young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or
exploited by advertisements that feature or promote gambling’.
Sponsorship, including links to online gambling sites, is not
explicitly covered under the rules. Yet such arrangements are likely to
come under the regulator’s scrutiny on a case-by-case basis, as and
when complaints arise.
Football clubs, several of which are public limited companies, are
rightly proud of the good work they do with children in communities
across the country. But before the Gambling Act takes full effect
in 2007 it makes sense for them to engage in some ‘joined up thinking’
about the influence that gambling sponsorship and related marketing
arrangements has on young supporters. In nurturing the next generation
of football fans, clubs need to ask themselves whether they will also
be helping to groom the next generation of gamblers.
Lisa Buchan is business development manager at Goodcorporation
These are her personal views.
