Premier League said to have asked clubs to back ban on gambling to avoid regulation
Premier League clubs have been asked to back a voluntary ban on shirt sponsorships relating to gambling companies as the English football’s top flight looks to avoid legislation that could be part of a gambling White Paper due in the coming weeks.
According to Sky Sports, clubs were contacted yesterday by their governing body with regards to removing betting sponsors after recent reports suggested that political interference could ban gambling firms from being main shirt sponsors.
Almost half of Premier League clubs were involved with betting companies last year while Everton signed a new deal with Stake.com in June.
“The reality is that all commercial revenue in the Premier League is that the ‘big six’ aren’t reliant on a gambling company but the other 14 clubs are going to be wanting to challenge this in some way,” JMW’s head of sports services Ben Peppi told City PM “It looks like the reforms aren’t going to take gambling out of the sport entirely, but it could from shirts.”
Should the Premier League be successful in implementing this voluntary ban, it is unknown as to whether the government would back down from any more severe measures in the parliamentary White Paper. The Premier League declined to comment on the reports