Flutter brand SkyBet emphasizes responsible gambling as it launches its 10th season as title sponsor of the English Football League (EFL).
Sky Bet’s comments come ahead of an upcoming Gambling Review white paper in which some campaigners are calling for a ban on gambling sponsorships in sports.
Additionally, The Times reported that the Premier League was planning a voluntary ban vote at its shareholders’ meeting ahead of the release of the white paper.
Regulatory changes pondered and the accompanying public debates about football sponsorship have cast doubt on the long-term future of the SkyBet-EFL deal.
In this environment, operators have emphasized responsible gambling as an important aspect of trading.
Steve Birch, Chief Commercial Officer at Sky Betting & Gaming, explains how the growing focus on social responsibility looks like:
“In line with our unwavering commitment to using these assets to convey the message of safer gambling, we have allocated over 70% of this inventory to the industry’s ‘Take Time to Think’ safer gambling campaign to help our customers urge them to set deposit limits and consider other protection tools,” he said.
Birch went on to argue the value of combining technical tools with a softer approach.
“Furthermore, we will use these assets to continue to raise awareness of ‘TalkBanStop’, a collaboration between GamCare, Gamban and GamStop that enables vulnerable customers to stop gambling and start their recovery journey. It’s a combination of support and practical tools to help
“Funded and supported by the Gambling Commission, this initiative brings together a key combination of blocking software, self-exclusion and ongoing support for vulnerable customers and is owned by Sky Bet and parent company Flutter. Fully backed by other UK brands, the world leader in safer gambling.”
“Our partnership with EFL also includes working closely with EPIC Risk Management, the UK’s leading independent harm minimization consultancy, the EFL Club on Gambling-Related Harm.”
In November 2021, the Gambling Commission investigated a self-exclusion failure when SkyBet sent promotional emails to self-exclusion customers. This ultimately resulted in him being fined £1.17m ($1.44m/€1.4m) by the Commission.
