Uncertain future for casino related sponsors in sports

Uncertain future for casino related sponsors in sports

Published by Mandy Cohen, 28 August 2020

Championship club Swansea City has dropped online casino operator Yobet as its main shirt sponsor in favour of a partnership with the local university.

Gambling brands have sponsored the club’s kits for the past four years – BetEast, Letou, BetUK and YoBet – while 32Red was emblazoned on the shirts between 2009 and 2013.

The Swans decided to move away from a casino sponsor in order to allow the youth teams to “wear the same shirt as their Swans heroes”, according to head of commercial Rebecca Edwards-Symmons.

Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm (APPG), said:

The club’s move away from gambling sponsorship is a really positive step – and is great news for their fans across our city and further afield.

The influential APPG recently urged the UK government to impose a blanket ban on gambling firms sponsoring football clubs.

Twenty-seven of the 44 clubs in the Premier League and Championship had a gambling shirt sponsor last season, and Bristol City just tied up a deal with MansionBet to sponsor their shirts next season.

Jack Grimes, who runs charity The Big Step, said: “We hope more clubs follow their lead and that government ends all gambling advertising and sponsorship in football.”

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