Uncertain future for casino related sponsors in sports

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.”