SNP MP lambasts Scotland’s biggest football clubs over gambling sponsorships

Vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Betting and Gaming Group (APPG), Ronnie Cowan, has denounced Celtic, Dundee United and Rangers for not considering the implications of their deals with betting firms. Cowan argued that fans are becoming increasingly concerned that their teams are being associated with gambling. Only three football clubs in Scotland’s top tier currently have gambling sponsors. The agreements include Celtic with Dafabet, Dundee United with QuinnCasino and Rangers with 32Red. Dundee United has thrust the debate into the headlines, as the club agreed the deal with QuinnCasino last month, replacing Eden Mill St Andrews. QuinnCasino is also partnered with Hibernian but not as the club’s main shirt sponsor. In a report by The Sunday Post, Cowan, who is an MP for Inverclyde, said: “Fans acknowledge the draw of the money but many feel their shirt is tarnished by the logos. While the UK Government dither, the harm being done by gambling is increasing year in, year out. “I’ve asked Celtic, Rangers and Dundee United if they have done a risk assessment on carrying gambling adverts on their football shirts. None of them have. They just take the money and run. “When I was kid growing up, I worshipped George Best. He could do no wrong in my eyes. I wore my football shirt outside my shorts, I wore my hair a bit long like him. If he had ‘Bet XYZ’ on that iconic red Manchester United strip that may have softened my view on gambling growing up.” This news comes as a petition to remove Stake.com as front-of-shirt sponsors of Premier League side Everton surpasses 30,000 signatures. Campaigners are calling for a ban on gambling sponsors appearing on football shirts because they fear fans, including children, are overloaded with the volume of gambling advertising. Currently, kids’ replica kits are not allowed to have gambling sponsors, but groups are calling for this to include adult kits as well. Cowan added: “The feeling is that now in the English Premier League, they will say you need to stop this by a certain date, but they will allow lower-league clubs to continue to do it. “That is hugely unfair. If you are taking a child to a game, it doesn’t matter if it is the Premier League or the first or second division; those guys are your heroes. So you are protecting the rich kids who have parents that are season ticket holders at Arsenal or Spurs.” Due to the ongoing crisis in Westminster, a vote on whether gambling sponsors are allowed on Premier League shirts has been delayed until a shareholder meeting on 26 July. The long overdue white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review is reportedly not going to include a mandatory ban on gambling sponsors on shirts; instead, it hopes the aforementioned vote by the Premier League will yield a voluntary ban on this type of sponsorship. At the time of writing, seven Premier League clubs have gambling front-of-shirt sponsors.