BGC fights back against calls for gambling ad ban during Euros

The BGC’s chief executive Michael Dugher has said the call for a ban on gambling ads during the Euros is not backed by evidence. 

UK.- Michael Dugher, chief executive of industry group, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), has spoken out against calls for a ban on gambling advertising during the UEFA 2020 European Championship.

The broadcaster ITV has already said that gambling ads during the European Championship would be significantly reduced due to changes since it broadcast the 2018 World Cup. That is partly due to the Betting and Gaming Council’s whistle-to-whistle ban.

However, several MPs, including the Scottish National Party’s Ronnie Cowan, have called for a complete ban on gambling ads during the event.

Writing in the parliamentary magazine The House, Dugher said the call was “not backed up by the evidence”.

He wrote: “A year ago, anti-gambling campaigners were making dire warnings that the Covid lockdown would lead to a surge in gambling as a premise for their long-standing calls for a ban on all betting adverts.

“This week, however, the Government minister Baroness Barran said in a written parliamentary answer that ‘overall participation in gambling has declined over the period of Covid-19 lockdowns in Great Britain’. A year later, the same siren voices have been repeating their calls for an advertising ban in the run-up to football’s European Championships.

“But again, the evidence does not back up their arguments. In another written parliamentary answer, DCMS minister John Whittingdale – the man leading the Government’s Gambling Review – pointed to an academic study into the link between advertising and betting. He said ‘it did not establish a causal link between exposure to advertising and the development of problem gambling’.”

Dugher highlighted the industry’s own work to heighten responsible gambling measures, with strict guidelines on advertising and sponsorship, including a ban on sponsorship appearing on children’s football kits and a commitment to ensuring 20 per cent of TV and radio ads promote safer gambling messages.

He said this had contributed to a fall in problem gambling, as reported in a study by the Gambling Commission. 

He said: “BGC members encourage their customers to set deposit limits, take time outs and, where necessary, sign up to the range of self-exclusion schemes that are out there,” he commented.

“One operator, Sky Bet, has over half a million customers who set a deposit limit on their account – enough to fill 10 capacity crowds at St James’ Park.”

Dugher also responded to suggestions that the regulated betting and gaming sector attempts to exploit football’s popularity to encourage under-18s to gamble.

He said that according to Gambling Commission research, there’s no evidence for such a claim since the majority of 11 to 16-year-olds gambled using scratchcards, playing cards, fruit machines and through private bets, not by betting on football with BGC members.

Dugher noted that the Gambling Commission had reported a fall in the number of young people admitting to gambling from 23 per cent in 2011 to 11 per cent in 2019.

The calls for a ban on gambling ads during the UEFA European Championship come amid increasing pressure for a ban on gambling sponsorship in British football.

However, Dugher said: “The close relationship between betting and football dates back more than 100 years through the football pools.

“Today, at a time of an unprecedented cash crisis for most football clubs following the covid-19 pandemic, the betting industry provides millions of pounds of vital funds to the national game, including £40m to the English Football League and its clubs. 

“This financial support has been especially important during the pandemic, with the absence of crowds leaving a black hole in clubs’ balance sheets.”