You’d think they’d get the message by now, but no. While millions of fans were glued to their telly for the Premier League opening weekend, gambling adverts were flying around everywhere. Shirts, boards, stadium walls, interviews – everything seemed to be about betting.
And that despite the big clubs and gambling companies promising to tone it down. Less advertising, better protection for young people, blah blah blah. But what happened? Researchers at the University of Bristol counted more than 27,000 gambling messages in that one weekend. Yes, really.
During the match, we saw an average of 22 gambling adverts per minute
You read that right: 22 times per minute, a gambling brand appeared during the Wolverhampton vs Manchester City match. That’s almost every 3 seconds. It was like watching a football match sponsored by the local casino.
And that whole ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban? That’s supposed to prevent children from seeing gambling adverts during the match. Well, forget it. Almost half of all adverts were shown during that prohibited time.
‘Self-regulation doesn’t work,’ says researcher Raffaello Rossi
Dr Raffaello Rossi – whose name sounds like a Serie A player, but who works at the University of Bristol – finds it all rather frustrating.
‘The gambling companies promise all sorts of things, but in the meantime they take up every inch of space around the pitch.’
In his opinion, the system is failing miserably. The voluntary rules are there more for the benefit of the gambling industry than for the protection of fans. And honestly? He seems to be quite right about that.
Politicians are also starting to get involved: ‘Disgusting and dangerous’
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith was also harsh in his judgement. He called the number of advertisements frankly astonishing. According to him, the ban does not help and it is high time for real rules.
Children are particularly at risk, he says. If you grow up with football heroes who are sponsored by gambling sites, what do you think is normal? Exactly.
Even deepfakes are being used to promote gambling
And it goes even further. Recently, Virgil van Dijk was misused in a deepfake gambling advert. His face was used without permission. People saw him talking about a gambling site, even though he had nothing to do with it.
The boundaries are blurring. Fans no longer know what is real. And young viewers? They are growing up in a football world where gambling seems to rule.
Clubs are losing money, but fans are losing something much bigger
Meanwhile, clubs are complaining bitterly that the ban is costing them millions in sponsorship revenue. That’s true.
But who is really losing out? The fans. They just want to enjoy football without being constantly tempted to gamble. It’s no longer normal for a sporting event to feel like a walking Vegas strip.
27,000 reasons why the government really needs to intervene now
There are no more excuses. The figures are clear. The promises have been broken. The fans are the ones who suffer.
And the big question now is: how many more adverts does the government need to see before it finally pulls the plug?