An article in Sports Media notes that, “Gambling messages during live broadcasts of six Premier League matches hit 23,690 – a 240% increase year on year”. They also counted, “More than 10,000 gambling messages detected during match play” and threw in the fact that during the West Ham v Aston Villa game there was around 30 gambling messages a minute.
In effect the number of betting adverts in the UK during the opening weekend of this season was three times higher than last year, according to new report from the University of Bristol – and that rise in gambling adverts is significantly helping to fund football.
Now the normal reaction to this is to focus on gambling and the dangers it brings – and that of course is fair enough. But there is a second issue here which is not being mentioned broadly but is worrying the gambling firms.
Gambling firms are advertising more and more to try and counter the fact that the outcome of each season is getting easier and easier to predict. It may not sit well with me, but the fact is ManC are obviously favourites to win the League since they can buy anyone they want. In fact I have heard it said that if ManC win their “tyranny of the majority” court case in the next week or two, the gambling firms odds on who will win the league will drop so far, no one will place a bet.
Gambling companies like football because basically of its unpredictability. But with Manchester City winning the league five times in the last six years that goes out the window. Yes punters can bet on who comes fourth, or which club is relegated, but such matters don’t have the pazzazz of betting on who will win the league..
What the gambling firms love is the fact that Wolverhampton Wanderers could get into Europe in 2018/9 and now look likely relegation candidates. Or Leicester City doing it in 2019/20 only to be relegated in 2022/23.
Now I want to make it clear I am not therefore saying that gambling should be banned. Indeed I would not be able to afford to run Untold without the income that we get from gambling firms advertising on this site. But things do seem to be getting out of control as according to Addpeople the Premier League “has more betting sponsors than any other type of sponsor,” despite their commitment to dropping them by 2026.
Indeed 40% of teams (eight out of the 20) are sponsored by a betting company, with the next most popular category being financial services.
All that has been clear for quite a while, but with the domination of the game by Manchester City, fewer bets are being put on who is going to win the league this year, next year, or any year. It is an issue that has hit France too with PSG who we play tomorrow, winning all the time (see Arsenal in the Champions League: there is always something going on at PSG).
So the gambling companies are pressuring the league to “make the League competitive again, or all that money you are getting from gambling is going away.”
As things stand the report says that, “During live broadcasts of six Premier League games in 2024/25, the study found that gambling messages, including logos and advertisements shown during live matches, more than trebled from 6,966 at the same time last year to 23,690 this year, which was a 240 per cent increase.”So we are in a situation in which gambling is funding football, but the model is seemingly unsustainable if one team always wins.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) says it commits 20 per cent of TV, radio and digital advertising to safer gambling messaging, and provides funding to the UK’s most popular sports, including £40 million to the EFL.
Given that clubs will not be able to have betting companies on their shirts from the start of the 2026/27 season simply sends more and more clubs to have betting sponsors. But betting on who will win the League is quickly coming to an end because a) the odds on ManC winning are so low, and b) the likelihood of anyone else winning is equally low.
So it is just possible that the heyday of gambling companies is coming to an end, but as things stand that looks like it will simply reduce the clubs’ incomes – unless of course the clubs either deduct massive numbers of points from ManC for their infringements alleged in the 115 charges against them, or else enough of the other big clubs resign from the League and form a new English Super League which has strict financial rules, which would stop the sort of sponsorship funding that allowed ManC to build its current dominant position.
Off topic
On refwatch Dermot Gallagher clarified why the Leicester player wasn’t given a second yellow card when he kicked the ball away following the foul on Saka. Apparently it differed from the two previous examples involving Rice and Trossard because the restart wasn’t delayed because Saka was still on the ground so the free kick couldn’t have been taken anyway.
How does it differ from the Trossard one though because then Silva was on the ground when the ball was kicked away by Trossard. Yet Gallagher claimed the Trossard yellow card was correct, no mention of Silva still being on the ground. Both situations were identical so how can Gallagher claim both decisions were correct.
Dermot Gallagher goes to any lengths to justify his PGMOL mates decisions, if it means coming out with lies so be it.
Aided and abetted by the timid pundits who never question the bullshit he comes out with.
I saw the video on Twitter Mike, Dermot even went as far as to say if we give a yellow for that then there will be a lot of players sitting in the stands.
What happened to the letter of the law nonsense for Rice? I mean dont make it obvious you are anti Arsenal. Actually i think they can get away with that because no one will question them about it.
Tony
As I showed the other day in a post in this article https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/108886 predictability hasn’t stopped people going, in fact quite the opposite. Attendances in all major European leagues are growing and have been for at least 10 years. The premierships attendances have been at their highest over the last 5 or 6 seasons (COVID accepted) since it’s inception.
It appears predictability doesn’t affect peoples interest in watching one iota.
But the question is, does it with regards to betting? I don’t know. But why would it?
Betting on who wins the PL is ONE BET. And I would lay a lot of money (see what I did there) on the fact that it is a very small market when it comes to betting on football in general
This is the reality of gambling, no matter how many ‘Bet aware’, ‘Set personal limits’, ‘Take time out’ ads they have.
Bookies make their money from 2 main sources.
-Problem gamblers and gamblers with a problem. That’s it.
Broadly speaking the UK gambling industry spends £1.5 billion a year on advertising, and 60% of its profits come from the 5% who are already problem gamblers
And those 2 types of gamblers will bet on anything and everything, morning noon and night.
First corner. Most shots in a half. Who gets booked. I doubt very much they would ever bet on something they have to wait a season for the outcome of. They want their next bet before the last ones even lost.
But okay, lets say they aren’t relying on ‘problem’ gamblers. Lets say they are relying on the dozen or so lads in my old mess room, and the like, who spend £20 every Saturday on the Premiership, and a bit more over the week on cup and European games.
The types of bet every one of them has are 7 Homes, 5 Aways, Kane to score first and 3 – 0 (That was my mates favourite bet), accumulators, that kind of bet. Same every week.
If you notice, most current adds are indeed about ‘YOUR ACCA’. Bonus’s here there and everywhere.
And let’s not forget ‘In-play’. A gold mine. Impulse betting at it’s most lethal.
In-Play and Accumulators are meat and drink to bookies. They are like printing money. Not only does the punter hardly ever win, when they look like they might those cunning bookie fellows have found a way to limit their liabilities even then with the cunning ‘Cash Out’ ruse. You look like winning a fortune and bottle out. GOTCHA!!
Gamble aware my ten bob.
The bookies problem is the competition. Look how many there are. Just go to Odds checker. 27 at least. Doesn’t seem to be a lack of punters to me.
Honestly Tony, bets on a predictable league winner is the least of their worries. It’s who’s going to be next in the referees book they want you focusing on.
@ mick shelley
I note that Bournemouth’s first goal was a quickly taken free kick whilst a fellow team mate was down injured! Different rules for different teams.
mick and Mikey
The bias and double standards are so obvious it is becoming a joke. Everyone can see it, the problem is fans are so partisan they wont admit it.
Plus, it’s always fun to see Arsenal constantly get it in the neck, after all we are cheats.
Gallagher is mind numbingly embarrassing with his assessments yet SKY simply allow him to spout this tosh unchallenged.
And the main stream media just lap it up:
“Gallagher confirms Arsenal not stitched up”
Well, as long as an ex referee on Arsenal bashing SKY Sports says so, it must be true.
Dermot Gaslighter