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Advertising sponsorship for Premier League, English football, and Scottish Premiership clubs has been big business, not only for the clubs but for gambling advertisers alike.
Social Media Advertising
Although the reins have tightened on shirt sponsorship and banner advertising around football pitches, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) have introduced new rules preventing clubs from advertising gambling promotions on their social media pages.A group of 50 former gambling addicts posted letters to football clubs to raise awareness regarding gambling offers on social media sites. Eleven UK clubs received the letter informing them of the ‘distress’ caused by seeing social media gambling promotions whilst trying to fight gambling addiction.
Protection for Under 18s
The BGC has responded by initiating measures to stop football clubs advertising on social media as of March 1st, 2021. The guidelines include a call to action or links to gambling platforms that are banned on tweets from football club feeds. This also includes a ban on displaying bonuses or odds in tweets that cannot be targeted at over 18’s only.The BGC has also written to Facebook and Twitter encouraging them to introduce age verification systems so under 18 do not have access to gambling ads on social media posts.Brigid Simmonds OBE, Chairman of BGC said, “Football Clubs are an important part of the sporting fabric of this country, followed by millions of all ages on social media.“Our members rightly have a zero-tolerance approach to gambling by under-18s, so as an industry we are understandably concerned that children may be exposed to betting adverts on social media platforms.”It’s important Football clubs take on the responsibility of protecting gambling addicts while posting on social media accounts and restricting gambling ads to under 18s was of upmost importance.