The Premier League in England today confirmed that their clubs have agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts and that could result in a similar situation not being too far down the line as far as the Scottish Premiership is concerned.
There will be some time factored in to allow clubs currently with gambling companies on the front of their shirts to secure alternative partners in other sectors so this collective agreement will not begin until the end of season 2025/26. Both Celtic and theRangers have gambling brands on their jerseys and will be monitoring developments.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Scottish Government have in recent months also looked at banning alcohol advertising in football which for the Scottish game would have a major impact. The English Premier League clubs are heavily reliant on broadcast media revenues whereas that is far from the case for Scottish Premiership clubs.
Often when Celtic play away from home in European competition the club has to remove the sponsorship from the shirts, with the Celtic Foundation usually replacing dafabet on the shirts. This happens as a result of similar decisions as the one mentioned above being brought in across many countries in Europe.
It looks more like a matter of when rather than if this will happen in Scottish football although Neil Doncaster at the SPFL is sure to argue the case for these revenues streams from betting and indeed alcohol sponsorship are particularly important to the Scottish clubs given the much lower level of media revenues that the Scottish premiership attracts in comparison to the richest league in the world down the road.
Today’s news comes via a statement released by the Premier League their official website. It reads as follows:
Clubs agree to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts, the first UK sports league to do so
Premier League clubs have today collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling advertising.
The announcement follows an extensive consultation involving the League, its clubs and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the Government’s ongoing review of current gambling legislation.
The Premier League is also working with other sports on the development of a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship.
To assist clubs with their transition away from shirt-front gambling sponsorship, the collective agreement will begin at the end of the 2025/26 season.
It’s worth noting that other form of gambling advertising such as trackside will not be affected by this collective agreement.
Premier League clubs have today collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling advertising
➡️ https://t.co/FG6V7sJcds pic.twitter.com/5xDX5sR4gY
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 13, 2023
Under these proposals, the most visible form of gambling advertising in football will remain untouched. It makes no logical sense.https://t.co/K8F4TUcPbI
— Rob Davies (@ByRobDavies) April 13, 2023
Excellent decision. https://t.co/Gfkk5EC1K3
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 13, 2023
