Call for review on gambling deals as Lords debate plans for English football regulator
Lord Addington wants a review of gambling sponsorship to be included in the Football Governance Bill.
UK.- Lord Addington AKA Dominic Hubbard continues to push for a review of gambling sponsorship in English football. During a debate at the House of Lords, the Liberal Democrat peer and vice president of the UK Sports Association proposed four amendments to the Football Governance Bill, including a review of advertising and sponsorship.
The Football Governance Bill proposes the creation of an independent football regulator (IFR) for English football leagues. Hubbard called for the IFR to be tasked with undertaking a “review of advertising and sponsorship related to gambling in English football within one year of establishment”. He suggested that such a review should make recommendations regarding steps to achieve the elimination of gambling advertising and sponsorship within five years of the day on which the legislation is approved.
He said: “Certain sports such as horseracing tend to be dependent on gambling, but we have something of a surfeit of gambling advertising on our televisions: it is everywhere. In these amendments, I am suggesting that football might be one place we could do without it. The revenue might be very useful to the clubs involved, but we have already heard about the huge reach of football as a subject, and the fact that there is a huge demand for it. Can we not get rid of gambling here?”
The proposals were not accepted. They received some support from the Labour peer Baroness Taylor of Bolton, but she suggested that this was not the right piece of legislation for them.
The independent Baroness Fos of Buckley criticised the proposal saying: “One of the aims of the Bill is that the football regulator will help clubs, particularly smaller clubs, become financially sustainable and avoid financial jeopardy. That has been a compelling and convincing argument for this Bill. So why would we cut off a perfectly legitimate source of funding in the form of lucrative sponsorship, which is what these amendments would do?”
The Premier League’s voluntary agreement to ban front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship starting from next year was enough to avoid mandatory measures in last year’s gambling white paper. However, Hubbard’s proposals show that it may not be enough to stop calls for further reforms.
The current text of the Football Governance Bill can be read at Parliament.uk
