The Premier League has plans to eradicate front-of-shirt sponsorship by gambling brands over the next three to five years.
While the top flight league has proposed these plans to ministers, betting firms would still have the option to sponsor the sleeves of football shirts.
According to Sky News, a Whitehall source said the premise of the compromise was that shirt sleeve sponsors were less visible and less valuable than the space on the front of teams shirts.
The news comes weeks after Paddy Power had one of its TV and VOD ads banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for encouraging socially irresponsible gambling behaviour.
The Premier League has argued that completely removing gambling brands from kits would send clubs over a ‘cliff edge’ from the ‘sudden evaporation of income’ from the gaming sector. Another source told Sky News that the removal of front-of-shirt sponsorship would take three to five years due to the expiry dates of many pre-exsiting commercial deals with football clubs.
Up to half of the clubs in the Premier League were sponsored by gambling brands last season, including West Ham, Brentford, Southampton and Newcastle.
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The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister Chris Philp, responsible for gambling, is reportedly said to be considering the proposal.
“We are undertaking the most comprehensive review of gambling laws in 15 years to ensure they are fit for the digital age. We will be publishing a White Paper as part of a review of gambling legislation in the coming weeks,” a DCMS spokesperson said.
If a deal to remove shirt sponsors is formulated by ministers, it would form part of a series of gambling reforms expected to be launched in several weeks.
If accepted however, the compromise deal from the Premier League would anger anti-gambling campaigners as it would still enable gambling brands to maintain a presence in a football league that has been widely reported as the most-watched in the world.
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