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The pressure was enormous from the football industry, since most of the teams feature gambling products on their shirts. The UK government seemed to have felt this and backed down on initial plan to ban gambling being advertised on the shirts of football teams.
The new gambling legislation is expected to be introduced in April this year.
Helen Whately, a UK government minister Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commented:
“I think, and I work with the Sports Minister on this kind of area, we’ve been really clear that football authorities have a very important responsibility to make sure that fans are protected from the risks of gambling addiction.
I think the football authorities are taking these responsibilities seriously and have taken steps for instance like banning the promotion of gambling, whistle to whistle, during football matches.
So this is absolutely about making sure you get the balance right there and we don’t want to have people feeling forced to bet when they’re trying to enjoy sport.”
Half of Premier League’s shirts feature a gambling company’s logo, while earnings from shirt sponsorship deals are over £350m in the top league. From the iGaming industry the Premier League clubs pocket approx.. £70m through shirt sponsorships. In the Championship 17 out of 24 club shirts have a betting logo!
