[Football] Betting sponsorship on shirts should be banned

[Randy McNob]

I would ban betting shops, I think they are a scourge on society. They were fine years ago when you didnt have internet or those awful FOBT machines, if you wanted to bet that was the only outlet, but they seem to attract the detritous in society and if people still want to bet they can go online.

The advertising must be effective or they wouldn't do it and the real question should be whether we should allow companies to openly encourage gambling. Most other countries ban gambling and or his highly regulated - for a good reason

 

[Spiros]

Not the same thing. Close all the bookies and remove all the gambling websites and you would see gambling reduced to almost zero.

Think of all those lives and and livelihoods saved...

Drugs on the other hand are inescapable. People are always going to want to use drugs. Whereas if you take away the convenience of gambling, most people would never get into it in the first place.

Have you never heard of Al Capone? He was this bloke who ran a serious of underground establishments during the US prohibition era in the 1930s, quite a few of which were devoted to gambling. People from all walks of life were drawn into these establishments, not just the desperate. The business was so lucrative that gangs had gunfights in the streets to control betting 'territories'. It was also very popular over here. Yet you think that gambling would disappear overnight if it was banned? I think you might be a tad naïve there

Also, how do you stop people from gambling on overseas websites? As it is quite a few of the bookies are already based in offshore havens such as Gibraltar. You going to start blocking users in the UK from accessing selected overseas websites? That sets a great precedent for what is meant to be a free country.

Realistically gambling in many forms is here to stay as a legal, controlled and taxed activity. We just need to make sure the vulnerable are protected hence I do agree with the restriction on promotion/advertising of it.

 

[Badger]

Disagree, it's not like drink or drugs where people have a strong desire to do it regardless of its availability.

People gamble so much because it is a convenient form of entertainment. Bookies are everywhere - online gambling is everywhere. For the hardcore gamblers, casinos are in every major town.

If it were illegal very few people would be so desperate to gamble that they would find any dodgy underground casino to do so. They would more often than not, just not gamble, which would be a huge positive.

Ban it and let it go underground.

I agree. The only people I know here who gamble are British expats who can still access the UK online gambling. The only legal form of online gambling here is playing the lottery and some of those scratch-card type games, on a website which is run by the provincial government. Outside of that we have the odd casino (which might allow betting) and not a single betting shop. I haven't heard any mention of loosening gambling laws.

I certainly don't miss being bombarded with terrible betting ads with the pathetic "when the fun stops, stop" type warnings at the end, usually spoken so quickly you pay no attention to them. Gambling seems to have become a bit of an obsession in the UK.

 

[BNthree]

Nothing against adults choosing to gamble but would very much prefer to see betting advertising and sponsorship of sports severely curtailed.

 

[Swansman]

The advertising must be effective or they wouldn't do it and the real question should be whether we should allow companies to openly encourage gambling. Most other countries ban gambling and or his highly regulated - for a good reason

In Sweden betting is heavily regulated and until one or two years ago all betting advertisement was illegal. Betting companies didnt give a shit about the law though, as their owners often cant be traced down and prosecuted, and there was no law stopping media companies from taking these dirty, illegal betting advertisement money.

 

[scamander]

It's not necessarily going to pick someone off a sofa and deposit them in a bookies but it all has the effect of normalising football with betting.

You hear odds in commentaries these days and bookies with updates on a particular market. Even Sky had criticism with the 'if the FUN stops...' campaign.

Betting in a match is now something which goes hand in hand to an extent it never used to. The industry doesn't want to go the way of cigarettes so does enough to try and convince that they are helping. But still, I'd prefer gambling to be more easily separated from it.

 

[Arthur]

Not the same thing. Close all the bookies and remove all the gambling websites and you would see gambling reduced to almost zero.

Think of all those lives and and livelihoods saved...

Drugs on the other hand are inescapable. People are always going to want to use drugs. Whereas if you take away the convenience of gambling, most people would never get into it in the first place.

How many of those drugs you champion so much have you taken?

Save some for me please!

 

[Swansman]

Drugs on the other hand are inescapable. People are always going to want to use drugs. Whereas if you take away the convenience of gambling, most people would never get into it in the first place.

Not necessarily. Create a society that isnt shit and you would see very few drug addicts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNmEboNEnd8

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Prohibition of anything that people actually want to do just drives it underground. The gambling industry does need to be more regulated and more done to ensure the vulnerable (and addicted) are better protected but in the end there will always be those who want to bet on something. Once you drive it underground it gets controlled by organised crime and the government also lose out on tax revenue which has to be got from elsewhere.

Also my father used to be a professional punter and consistently made money at it for many years. To say that the industry only causes suffering is very much a blinkered view

Apologies for the sauce but it seems to cause more than enough suffering.

 

[Wozza]

I'm sure it's not a coincidence that Albion signed a LONG-TERM deal with Amex.

Shirt sponsorship revenues bound to tumble if gambling banned.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Both Everton and Aston Villa have terminated their deals with Sports Pea and W88 respectively, both will be sponsored by Cazoo next season (Cazoo is a new car buying app by the people who brought us Zoopla).

Press reports said Everton haven't ruled out having a betting company as the sleeve sponsor though and the decision is more of a financial one than a moral one, on the face of it the deal with Cazoo doesn't appear to be worth anymore than the Sports Pea deal.

 

[brightn'ove]

Maybe I'm being a bit naive here, but is having 32RED or 888 or whatever splashed across a football shirt really going to make a non-gambler open an account and start gambling?

They sponsor shirts for a reason...

 

[Wozza]

I see "American Express" on thousands of shirts each year. I've never felt inclined to go and get an AMEX card.

They're not for everybody.

 

[We're the Stripes]

I certainly don't miss being bombarded with terrible betting ads with the pathetic "when the fun stops, stop" type warnings at the end, usually spoken so quickly you pay no attention to them.

It's actually the opposite now. The last few SkyBet, Bet365 etc adverts I was unfortunate enough to sit through pretty much led with the "When the fun stops, stop" message and didn't really leave the subject for the duration. If they're getting to that stage now, surely it's an indication that they should just sack off the telly adverts? (or someone should force them off)