Ted Menmuir<\/p>\n
The Daily Telegraph<\/strong>\u00a0has reported this morning that PM Boris Johnson will likely support a ban on gambling industry shirt sponsorships across football.<\/p>\n Citing sources \u2018close to Downing Stree<\/em>t\u2019, the Telegraph stated that Johnson\u2019s senior cabinet are determined to press ahead with drastic reforms to the UK gambling sector.<\/p>\n A ban on shirt sponsorships by gambling brands has been pitched as a certain outcome as the mandate carries cross-party and \u2018two-thirds of public support\u2019, according to campaigners.<\/p>\n Labour MP\u00a0Carolyn Harris<\/strong>, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Harms, said that she was confident that a sponsorship ban would be one of the \u2018common-sense outcomes\u2019 of the review.<\/p>\n Despite its apparent support, the government is conscious of the impact and timing of a sponsorship ban on football, which would leave a \u2018\u00a3110million-a-year dent\u2019 on\u00a0Premier League<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Championship<\/strong>\u00a0club accounts.<\/p>\n Last Autumn,\u00a0EFL<\/strong>\u00a0leadership wrote to the DCMS stressing that lower league football clubs were on a \u2018financial knife-edge dealing with the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n The EFL supported changes to betting\u2019s relationship with football but warned the government not to follow European counterparts in imposing a blanket ban on football sponsorships.<\/p>\n Supporting betting sponsorships, the EFL highlighted the response to social responsibility concerns by operators, in which League sponsor Sky Bet had donated 70% of its matchday inventory to promote safer gambling and education of compulsive behaviours.<\/p>\n The PM\u2019s senior cabinet has maintained that all gambling sector reforms \u2018will be led by the evidence\u2019 presented by DCMS\u2019 ongoing review, which triggered its consultation phase last December.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s 2021 agenda will see DCMS publish its \u2018white paper\u2019 of recommendations for the UK gambling sector by late summer or autumn.<\/p>\n A further option of imposing a \u2018sports rights levy<\/strong>\u2019 to be paid by betting operators to governing bodies has been \u2018informally discussed\u2019 as the government recognises that advertising curbs will raise funding concerns from professional sports.<\/p>\n Previous attempts at building up such rights have fallen foul of European laws, but some of those doors could well be re-opened following Brexit.<\/p>\n Maintaining a close relationship with PM Johnson, the Daily Telegraph stated that the Prime Minister would take an active role in how UK gambling\u2019s future laws and standards will be reshaped.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n