January 27 – Britain’s Sports minister Nigel Adams has denounced football’s “dependency” on sponsorship from gambling companies and warned clubs to look for different income streams.
Seven gambling websites were able to show a selection of FA Cup third round matches to anyone who placed a bet or put a deposit in their account in the day before match weekend in question.
In an interview with several media organisations addressing the controversy over the English FA selling the live streaming rights to gambling organisations, Adams said too many clubs were relying on money from betting companies.
“I appreciate finances aren’t brilliant at a lot of the clubs but they need to be mindful of the impact that these sort of deals have on vulnerable people, who could potentially have an issue with gambling,” he was quoted as saying.
“We’re going to be reviewing the current Gambling Act and I’m sure the link between sports – football in particular – will form a part of that.”
About half of the Premier League’s 20 clubs and 15 in the second-tier Championship have betting firm sponsors in some shape or form, many of them being the club’s main shirt sponsor.
“We have to look at this very carefully because problem gambling leads to serious social problems, and in some cases people have done drastic things and taken their lives, so we are looking at this very closely,” Adams added.
“There’s way too much dependency, and I’m sure the football authorities are aware of that.”
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