End gambling advertising and sponsorship in football

Gambling adverts and sponsorship in football are everywhere. Betting brands are on shirts, around the pitch, on video games and even in sticker books…

Unfortunately this means children are being exposed to gambling through football and that has consequences.

I was one of many young football fans exposed to this advertising and this proved to be my introduction to a twelve year gambling addiction that destroyed my life.

I’m now over two years without gambling but sadly, many don’t recover from this cruel addiction.
There are an estimated 250-650 gambling related suicides in the UK every year. There are an estimated 5 million people affected by gambling related harm in the UK according to YouGov. There are 55,000 children addicted to gambling in the UK.

I’m proud to represent Gambling with Lives, a charity set up by bereaved families of young people who took their own life as a direct result of their gambling addiction.
Together, we founded The Big Step and we are tackling football’s relationship with gambling by walking and talking to football clubs to show the harm caused to millions of young people.
But football isn’t listening…

• 17 Premier League football clubs (85%) have a gambling sponsor or partner.
• 17 Sky Bet Championship football clubs (70%) have a gambling sponsor or partner.
• Research from Deakin University indicates that children as young as 8 think betting is a normal part of sport.

So we need your help…

The rules of gambling in the UK are currently being reviewed, so adding your voice to this petition is really important. We need to make as much noise as possible and show the UK Government that we want to end the harmful amount of gambling adverts and sponsorship in football.

To prevent gambling harm and save lives, we have to stop exposing children to gambling through our beautiful game.

Source: change.org