Premier League might ban betting sponsor

Under the Gambling Act reforms, sponsors of sports betting companies could be permanently removed from gaming jerseys in the coming weeks. This was reported by the Guardian, in an article explaining how currently, between the Premier League and the Championship, twenty-seven teams out of forty-four have a betting site as the main sponsor on the uniform. The proposed change to the law - the last revision of which is dated to 2005 with the intervention of former Prime Minister Tony Blair - will be discussed this week. Current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he is interested in a major reform of the betting system. 

In fact, according to information gathered by the Guardian, the revision of the rule concerns not only naming rights in sport - in fact, the rights of betting companies on stadium names are also included - but also several actions to limit online playlikeness. Measures such as permission for legal action against illicit bettors, illegal parallel market contrast, strict controls on player credit and control over quota rotation systems and online betting in general. It is estimated that around 430,000 people in the UK suffer from compulsive gambling, while research by the Gambling Commission in 2018 found that 55,000 children aged 11-18 were considered "problem gamblers" and that more children admitted to placing a bet for over a week - a higher figure than alcohol or drug use. Currently, in the Premier League, only 4 teams - Chelsea, Liverpool, Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur - have no partnership with betting brands this year. 

The fight against gambling is a principle whose interest is increasing in football. From this year, in La Liga, a ban has been activated for betting brands as sponsors on the jerseys, so, at the end of this season (in August 2021), clubs will no longer be able to keep the names of companies in this commercial category. This is also the case in Switzerland - where the ban is now ten years old - and also in Italy, where the Decreto Dignità of July 2018 banned sponsorship of betting brands from the 2019-20 season. A blockade that has caused many losses to football clubs, which have had to give up millionaire agreements with gambling companies. Changing the English reform would also reduce - as has happened in Italy - the revenues of Premier League and Championship clubs, whose rich finances are largely assisted by the figures from this type of sponsorship.