The partnership between Premier League clubs and betting firms, including Betway’s sponsorship deal with West Ham United, is coming increasingly under scrutiny as critics raise fears about the effects of gambling and the proliferation of sponsorship deals and advertising.
Gambling firms have become so prominent in the Premier League only one team – Norwich – began the 2021/22 season without a betting brand partnership after Chelsea and Liverpool partnered with Parimatch and 1xBet respectively ahead of the campaign.
West Ham’s history with betting companies dates to 2008, when SBOBET adorned our shirts until 2013. We moved on to Forex brokers Alpari for two years before striking a relationship with Betway, which has been our main shirt sponsor from 2015 to the present day.
Premier League football is obviously a money-spinning business but should there be a duty of care from the league and its members to ban betting firms from emblazoning their logos on club shirts and inside stadiums?
Figures posted by the Gambling Commission show almost one-fifth (19%) of “problem gamblers” have suicidal thoughts compared with 4% of “non-problem gamblers”. The Gambling Commission stated 5% of problem gamblers reported they had made a suicide attempt in the past year, compared with 0.6% of those who showed no signs of problem gambling.
Meanwhile, a Public Health England study released last September found an estimated 409 suicides linked to gambling in England every year (The Times).
West Ham United’s Betway relationship
While obviously there isn’t a direct correlation between those figures and betting companies sponsoring Premier League football clubs, is it a good thing for young people to be exposed to the names of betting firms week in, week out when watching football?
Sky News reports fan-led campaign group Football Supporters Against Gambling Adverts recently urged clubs to stop gambling firm sponsorships.
Chris Gilham, a passionate campaigner against football’s relationship with betting companies, has started a petition for West Ham United to cancel all partnerships with gambling companies, reject future partnerships, and back The Big Step campaign.
Gilham is in recovery from gambling addiction and has experienced the dangers of betting, online and in the flesh. He is co-host and co-founder of the All Bets Are Off Gambling Addiction And Recovery Podcast. Chris is also founder and trustee of the Gambling Education Network.
You can read Chris’s story here, while his petition is available at 38 Degrees.
Gambling adverts often make products seem fun and glamorise services. It’s not unrealistic to suggest young men and women may see a betting company on a football shirt and seek said company to gamble. That’s the nature of sponsorship after all. Encouraging people to seek your services.
In my opinion, we need to make sure Premier League clubs stop associating themselves with betting companies in order to give compulsive gamblers or recovering addicts the best chance we can.
It’s a tough task and a long road ahead if we’re to succeed. If there is to be real change, everyone involved with the beautiful game needs to start making a stand.
I look forward to a future in which children aren’t exposed to the world of betting while they watch their favourite team.
You can follow Chris on Twitter: @gillsy1002_
If you are suffering from problems relating to gambling addiction, you can access the Gamblers Anonymous website here or call 0330 094 0322. You can also access All Bets Are Off here, and the Gambling Education Network here.
Also, you can speak to Samritans here.
West Ham and Betway were approached for comment but both are yet to respond…
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
