95% of TV Adverts Gambling Related During Soccer Matches

UK residents are being bombarded with gambling related adverts while watching soccer matches on television at home, according to a recent survey conducted by Victoria Derbyshire. The award-winning English journalist and broadcaster made the startling announcement during her BBC current affairs programme after examining 25 soccer games involving British football teams this season.
From the 1,324 adverts and sponsorship related commercials shown during these matches, 272 of them were from gambling companies. This ratio of roughly 20% then increased to over 33% for some games, including 37% for Scotland’s match versus Slovakia, and 40% during Everton’s game against Apollon Limassol.
The investigation further concluded that 95% of all TV commercials shown during live UK football matches on either Sky Sports, BT Sport or ITV featured at least one gambling related advertisement. While no gambling ads can be shown on TV before the 9pm watershed, this is not the case for live sporting events, raising further concerns from anti-gambling groups who are worried about children being exposed to the gambling industry during games.
Commenting upon the situation, Matt Zarb-Cousin from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling called upon the government to address this issue, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport now expected to release the finding of their review sometime over the next few weeks.
In the past, the government has called upon gambling firms to do more to protect people from gambling, and has recently indicated a toughening in its approach on the issue. High street bookmakers, for instance, are bracing for the maximum bets on their fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) to be reduced from £100 per spin to perhaps as low as £20 or £2. Likewise, analysts are also predicting more stringent restrictions soon being placed on the broadcasting of gambling ads.
The UK liberalized its gambling industry back in 1994 with the launch of its National Lottery, and since then the gambling sector has grown into a £14 billion a year industry. Commenting upon the country’s burgeoning gambling market, Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association, stated:
“The reality is, gambling is normalised in this society and if you look at why, it was probably the introduction of the National Lottery, it changed the perception.”