Massive surge in gambling ads: Is the Premier league setting a bad example for kids? | Football News

With gambling related advertisement increasing three times since last season, concerns grow over child safety regarding the same.

West Ham vs Aston Villa (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

New Delhi: Premier League is responsible for most of the craze with football in the world and there is little doubt about it. The English football league is one of the most watched sports leagues in the world, which makes it the grammar of football understanding. Every year, a new generation forms an interest in the league, which is why it has stood the test of time.

This means that the Premier League has the power to make impressions on all the preteens and teenagers who follow the game closely. These susceptible brains are exposed to a lot of betting app advertisements that are plaguing the league, and that is indeed a worrying situation.

Researches have accounted for a total of 29,000 gambling messages, a 165% increase on the first weekend from the previous season. The game between West Ham and Aston Villa saw a total of 6,500 gambling messages. Quite a chunk of the Premier League football clubs have advertised gambling on their websites. These websites are primarily targeted at and visited by under-18s, which raises the question of a code of conduct.

How Premier League tried to curb betting apps?

Currently, Premier League is trying to work out a way with its clubs to apply the code of conduct for gambling-related agreements in football, which was introduced at the start of the current season. This means that clubs are supposed to follow the rules set by the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority. 

The English football industry published a code of conduct a few months ago to lessen the amount of marketing during a football event. However, it has made little difference so far. Of course, the gambling industry is trying to maximise profit rather than applying caution on how its advertisements are placed and who is viewing them.

Last year’s review of the gambling regulations resulted in English football clubs avoiding any new government-imposed restrictions that could affect their earnings from betting sponsorships. Premier League clubs voluntarily signed to abandon betting logos at the front of the shirt in 2026 and even signed new rules for sponsorship. It was drafted in partnership with the gambling industry’s lobby group, the Betting and Gambling Council.

Tottenham Hotspur’s (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)

For both parties, it gave an image of acting morally responsible towards a vulnerable age group. However, half of the participating clubs of the Premier League are not following the rules. Everton and Aston Villa have displayed their under-18 members sporting shirts with betting logos on them. Websites of Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers included betting logos in sections of pages meant for kids.

Obviously, if sections of pages meant for an age group between 11-17 display anything related to gambling, concerns will rise. The gambling industry is using football clubs to be a press away from their unhealthy products. While gambling companies have kept mentioning that they are least interested in marketing to the under-18, the ads keep appearing in front of the vulnerable. Clubs like Manchester United have ensured they have removed gambling links from their pages.

With social media apps like Instagram making kids’ profiles private and providing selective content to them, there is little doubt that the well-being of the upcoming generation is the new priority. So, the way the Betting and Gaming Council has responded is by adding age ceiling rules as well as caution for safer gambling in their ad campaigns. There are tools in order to promote safe betting, and concerns about addictions are also in constant check. Still, one wonders if this is enough. After all, kids and fans have these addictive activities in the closest imaginable vicinity.

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