Are policymakers taking a gamble with proposals for a betting sponsorship ban?

Earlier this month, a House of Lords select committee recommended that the sponsorship by gambling brands of football shirts was a practice that should be outlawed. With nine out of 20 Premier League clubs and 17 out of 24 Championship sides sponsored by betting companies, it’s a move which could have serious consequences for the finances of the professional end of the game.

Nevertheless, the policy proposal appears to be gaining currency, especially now that La Liga in Spain could be subject to a similar set of rules designed to clamp down on gambling in the country. A ban on shirt sponsorship in Spain could be introduced as early as next season, should proposals go ahead.

With new gambling legislation expected at some point in the next year to two years, and a government seemingly more inclined to take interventionist action on what it sees as social harm, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that this proposal is being taken seriously by ministers in the coming months.

With that in mind, we thought it might be helpful to revisit some of the data around this subject. First of all, let’s look at the prevalence of betting within the segment of the UK population made up of football fans.

It’s true that football fans are more likely to place a bet than the general population – whether online or in a betting shop. Almost a quarter (23%) of football fans have placed a bet online in the past 12 months, compared to 12% of the general population, for example.

Among other things, what this tells us is that football is a natural marketplace for betting companies. After all, if more of your customers are in the north of town, why would you set up shop in the south? Similarly, a marketplace for sports betting exists in football so that’s where we’d expect to see these brands advertise.

Forces at play

What’s really in question for policymakers is whether and how much betting company sponsorship drives sports betting among football fans or exists simply because that’s where the market is for these companies.

On this, the data is less clear. Take Lotto and EuroMillions as an example. Neither product advertises on the shirt fronts of football teams yet the purchase of tickets for both is – like sports betting – significantly more common among football fans than it is among the general public. Moreover, football fans are far more likely to buy a lottery ticket than they are to bet on sport.

Because the relationship between lottery tickets and football fans is not driven by sponsorship, it is clear that other factors are at play when fans decide to buy a lottery ticket. It could be that they are simply more inclined to gamble, that they are more committed to spending that raises money for good causes, or even that they consume more media where the Lotto and EuroMillions products are advertised.

What we do know, for example, is that football fans are around 30% more likely than sports in fans in general to consider Lotto as good value. It is likely that this and a number of other factors affect the purchase of lottery tickets.

Similarly, policymakers may wish to consider the other factors at play in the dynamic between betting and sports fandom as they consider the role of shirt-front branding. The purchase decision is likely to be informed by a wide range of factors and while shirt sponsorship may well be one of them, banning it may not necessarily have the desired effect on behaviour. The data will tell us more.

Charlie Dundas is commercial director at YouGov Sport, the sports and entertainment division of global research and insight agency, YouGov. YouGov Sport tracks the public’s perceptions of sports events, leagues, teams and athletes every day in markets across the world on a daily basis.