iGB Editorial: Zack Thomas Aku argues that the Premier League should make concessions now on gambling shirt sponsorship contracts, rather than being forced.
This Tuesday, the British football barons met at an undisclosed location for one of their occasional shareholder meetings. It reportedly included some pretty impressive ideas for a “new deal in football.”
Apparently this is some kind of big deal between the Premier League and the lower leagues and, more importantly, a massive old bash at the home of Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boley.
Great, wasn’t there something about a voluntary betting shirt sponsorship ban? Last week, given the transition period and certain conditions, the required 14-vote threshold It was reported that there was sufficient support for such a ban to exceed.
Kick the can on the way
The big club conspiracy is something of a black box, but as speculated in the press, the club may have delayed voting until the fall to see what the political situation looked like.
Indeed, the competition for Tory leaders narrowed to the more pro-industrial Rishi Sunak vs. the more skeptical Liz Truss, and the fate of a gambling law review was never certain.
The anti-industrial lobby seems to believe that the delay means watering down the white paper, but we are not sure. Right now, it seems that Truss is considered an easy favorite in the political betting market.
But the bottom line is that the league is once again in a familiar position to wait for what happens next, as the league does not know who will be prime minister this time next year.
half time break
This may prove to be wrong. Organizations such as the Premier League are not passive actors in the great cosmic drama of gambling reform. They have been active participants in shaping the nature of UK regulation.
In the months following the publication of the white paper, too long a narrow debate within the industry has become the center of a powerful national conversation at pubs and supper.
So that the louder the industry can show that it is willing to concede, that it can self-regulate, that the state does not need to use its power to enforce some degree of social responsibility, it can do so. Claim when you need it.
And it’s better to make small concessions than big concessions.
small potatoes
It’s not a common name on the front of Premier League shirts, such as Bet365 or Paddy Power, but a brand that usually targets the unregulated markets of Asia.
Football shirt sponsorships are one of the most visible signs of gambling in the UK, so it’s no surprise that it’s often the aspect of gambling reform that gets a lot of media and public attention. . proposed reforms.
Even in the Premier League, the amount spoken is measured in just a few million compared to the UK online gambling industry which is fast approaching £7 billion GGY.
other side of the coin
If the government and the public are feeling unforgiving in a year or so, they have the tools at their disposal to cut a deep ditch in the sector once this starts to become law. What about recreational bettors facing rigorous checks for affordability, including invasive uploads of bank statements and proof of income?
Or what about more comprehensive ad management, like the Italian, Spanish and Belgian markets? By introducing infeasible taxes like in markets like Romania, states can even use their drawstring purses to strangle the industry.
The fact of the matter is that there is finally some sort of gambling reform going on in the UK and the industry has a very big agency on what it will look like in the end.
Putting it in their own words, the sector shouldn’t be averse to putting out small bets to win the pot.
