Football is among the most popular sports in the world. Anything that draws so much attention is significant for one thing: advertising. That’s why everything related to football has become an excellent opportunity for companies to advertise themselves. However, it’s also important to match target audience which are predominantly male in football stadiums.
One thing that goes hand in hand with sports and men is betting. That’s why a large part of football advertising comes from betting companies. That includes British sportsbooks and even a casino not on GamStop operators who are available outside of the UK. However, there is some control over gambling ads in UK football. These regulations are in place to protect British sports fans.
Let’s have a look at how gambling ads are regulated, who is affected and whether there should be any change.
How are Gambling Ads Currently Regulated in UK Football?
Gambling ads are heavily regulated in the United Kingdom. These regulations apply to rules outside of the football field. But there are some in place when it comes to inside the soccer stadiums.
For instance, any partnership advertisements must be removed from a club’s website that’s aimed at underage fans. So the junior section of the website must be free from ads from any kind of sportsbook.
Online sportsbook advertisements are even present on the players’ equipment. Anyone watching a game can clearly see this, even children.
Today, sports betting brands can advertise themselves on banners on the side of the football pitch. However, an increasing number of sportsbooks are using these banners to advertise themselves, warranting additional regulations.
Also, UKGC states that advertising to under-18-year-olds is illegal, and plenty of children accompany their parents to soccer matches in the UK. So, controlling what gets displayed on the football pitch banners is tough.
Who is Affected?
There are three vital groups of people that are affected by a potential ban on gambling ads. These are:
- Clubs and Players
- Fans
- Children
Let’s explore how a ban would affect each of these sections.
Clubs and Players
Football clubs are always looking for revenue sources as they have huge expenses. Given that millions of people watch Premier League matches, it is the perfect revenue generator. No matter if we’re talking about regulated vs independent casinos, for football clubs, they are just customers looking to advertise their services. Since the competition is high, so is the price of the ad space.
Removing a whole group of businesses that can advertise on these banners would result in lower competition. That would also drive the price of the ad space low, resulting in less revenue for the club and its signed players.
Fans
Fans are at liberty to pick the best sportsbooks out there. The usual rule of thumb is that the best have high budgets for expensive ads. Removing them from the pitch would require fans to do their own research about reliable sportsbooks with appealing welcome bonuses.
It’s important to note, though, that the absence of sportsbook advertisements would result in a lower impulse to bet on a match for some fans. Those who are huge fans of it will still continue using the safest payment methods to place their bets.
Children
This is an important part of the current ad regulations. Children are at every soccer match in the UK. While some are in stadiums, others are at home watching with their parents. Advertising gambling to them should be heavily limited. That’s why there’s more support from the public to ban all betting-related advertisements from these huge events. That would even include merchandise sponsorships, which would seriously affect revenue figures of some big names in the Premier League.
Arguments for and Against Stricter Controls
There are plenty of arguments both for and against stricter controls. The current UKGC rules are mildly restrictive and have not stopped gambling advertisements from being presented thousands of times during the opening Premier League match.
More rules would result in fewer of these ads being shown, which would give brands from other industries more space to advertise their products instead. That way, there would still be sportsbooks ads, just in lower volume. The revenue generated from ads would only partially decline.
On the other hand, it’s important to keep our future generations safe. There’s a reason why gambling is a type of entertainment for those older than 18. So those younger than 18 shouldn’t be seeing so many ads about sports betting.
Conclusion
The UK Gambling Commission is among the stricter ones globally, and the whole gambling world is looking at it. That’s a lot of responsibility to carry for such an organization, but it has to do what’s best for clubs, fans, children, and operators.
We’ll likely see more restrictive rules in the future, to protect future generations from betting too much. We’ll see how things will progress. However, with the current public support, it’s becoming more evident that more regulation about soccer advertising is coming in near future.