A staggering 29,000 adverts for gambling companies are being displayed every Premier League gameweek – suggesting that the competition isn’t doing enough to tackle the problem.
The number shown during the opening weekend of the 2022/23 campaign was 11,000; meaning that the exposure to fans of all ages of material promoting gambling has increased by nearly 300% in a single year.
And campaigners have hit out at the Premier League, describing their efforts to self-regulate as ‘tokenistic’ and ‘wholly inadequate’.
Unavoidable Truth
Research conducted by the University of Bristol counted up the 29,000 different advertisements, which were displayed online, TV and radio, pitch side hoardings and on the front of the teams’ shirts.
Of those, a whopping 6,500 were shown during West Ham’s contest with Aston Villa. Over the course of a 90-minute game, that works out at around 72 for every minute of the contest.
All told, material promoting gambling appeared on a media platform 23,690 times during the six Premier League games that were broadcast live – up 240% on the same weekend in 2022/23 (23,690).
The report’s co-author, Dr Raffaello Rossi, claimed that the findings prove that gambling ads in Premier League matches are ‘out of control’, and commented:
“Just a few months ago, a new code of conduct was published by industry to curb marketing during football events, but the policy has had no impact on the volume whatsoever.
“It’s clear that the industry’s attempt to self-regulate is wholly inadequate and tokenistic.”
A spokesperson from the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has replied to the research, claiming that the findings ‘fundamentally misunderstand both advertising, and the way in which it is strictly regulated, while making a series of statements which are either misleading or incorrect.’
“The previous government’s stated research did not establish a causal link between exposure to advertising and the development of problem gambling.”
And the BGC doubled down on their stance, revealing that ‘independent research by the Gambling Commission found there was a ‘significant decline’ in young people’s exposure to gambling advertisements last year, while the ASA found children are seeing fewer gambling adverts on TV.’
A New Beginning?
Premier League chiefs had, in theory, implemented a new range of methods to minimise the amount of gambling ads being displayed before, during and after games.
Working in conjunction with the BGC, they created the Code of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements in Football in the summer, which was ratified in time for the start of the new campaign.
Although a set of voluntary agreements between the league and its clubs, the hope was that the number of gambling ads being displayed would be toned down – particularly via channels most likely to be seen by children and the most vulnerable.
There are other requirements that Premier League clubs and the EPL itself must adhere to, including the statutory rules set out by the UK Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
However, the findings of the University of Bristol’s research would suggest that the legislation is not fit for purpose – with Premier League stakeholders running amok, despite the voluntary rules implemented just a matter of weeks ago.
Currently, the so-called ‘whistle to whistle’ ban on gambling ads relates only to TV commercials during live games. However, such messages are still allowed to be displayed on other platforms; particularly social media channels like Twitter and TikTok, where no such limitations apply.
According to the University of Bristol’s data, ads promoting gambling companies and services were viewed a staggering 24 million times across social media on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
To make matters worse, some of these messages feature Premier League players in them, and not all are tagged with the ‘ad’ identifier – potentially exposing children and vulnerable adults to gambling content.
All promotional messages on social media have to be clearly tagged as adverts as per the ASA’s rules.
According to the study, social media accounted for a surprisingly low 17% of all gambling ads posted during the opening weekend of the 2023/24 season.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) came before and after the live games shown on TV and broadcasted on the radio, with a further 18% of the content shown specifically on the Sky Sports News channel.
Front of shirt sponsorships, which are set to be outlawed in time for the 2025/26 season, were also included in the results after a number of clubs decided to sign such deals during the summer.