Gambling shirt sponsors to be banned in Gambling Act 2005 white paper

Clubs in the Premier League could be barred from having gambling sponsors on their shirts after the proposal was included in the draft white paper that is set to be published next month.

As reported by BBC Sport and The Sunday Times, the upcoming white paper would include the blocking of gambling sponsors from the front of kits from as early as next season.

The government hopes to reach an agreement with Premier League clubs in the next couple of weeks so that a blanket ban would not be needed.

Teams in the English Football League and further down the football pyramid would be exempt from any bans due to the financial implications.

This ban would be per a recommendation made in 2020 by the House of Lords select committee, which stated Premier League clubs should be banned from having gambling sponsors on the front of their shirts.

That recommendation also suggested that Championship clubs, English football’s second tier, should phase them out over time.

However, due to the delays in the publication of the white paper, clubs may have already agreed on deals for next season by the time the paper is published. This would mean any ban would not come into effect till the 2023-24 season.

A spokesperson from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) told BBC Sport: “We are undertaking the most comprehensive review of gambling laws in 15 years to make sure they are fit for the digital age.

“We will publish a white paper which sets out our vision for the sector in the coming weeks.”

There were nine clubs in England’s top flight last season with gambling companies as their principal shirt sponsor.

If the ban did come into effect, the UK would join Italy and Spain, which have already banned gambling sponsors from appearing on football shirts in La Liga and Serie A.

This proposal was not the only revelation to come out of the white paper draft. It is also expected that the government will increase the maximum stake on online slot games of £2 to £5 to try and create “parity” with the limits introduced on fixed-odds betting terminals.

This review into the Gambling Act 2005 comes at a time when the government has faced major criticism for not doing enough to protect people.

In an interview given to The Guardian, Liz Ritchie, the mother of Jack Ritchie, who took his own life while battling gambling addiction, said that the lack of information available to the public on the dangers of gambling meant her son was not aware of the potential risks when he first started betting.

Ritchie said: “Unless this gets changed this will happen tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that. There will be more and more parents in our position.”

After multiple delays beginning at the end of last year, the DCMS is set to publish the white paper at the beginning of June 2022.