AFC Bournemouth: Kick gambling ads out of football!

Today, AFC Bournemouth announced a two-year partnership with Dafabet, a Phillipines-based online betting company. As a result, the company’s logo will appear across the club’s Vitality Stadium, its shirt and various other online promotions.

Why do I care? Because gambling doesn’t just destroy lives.

Gambling kills.

Gambling-related harm impacts millions of people either directly or indirectly. Research indicates there are between 250 and 650 gambling-related suicides in the UK each year, with football often acting as the hook that draws gamblers in.

This industry has been normalised by the increase amongst young people through gambling advertising during live sport. There is evidence that children of primary school age have brand loyalty towards certain gambling companies: a degree of normalisation has led to four in five university students losing an average of £30 every week to gambling.

Children shouldn’t be exposed to gambling advertising at all, so at the very least it should not be marketed in football stadiums.

If you don’t think that’s a problem, the numbers are there for all to see.

Ipsos Mori found that 37% of 11-16-year-olds in England and Scotland have gambled in the last 12 months and almost 2% of these are classified as ‘problem’ gamblers.

It’s not just children who are affected. Former Cherries midfielder Warren Aspinall has said that his gambling addiction almost drove him to take his own life. He’s not alone. There are between 430,000 and 1.4 million people currently addicted to gambling in the UK, with those suffering from gambling disorder up to 15 times more likely to take their own lives than members of the general population.

Could you imagine any other industry that causes this much harm being shown to millions of people every weekend?

AFC Bournemouth proudly claims that ‘Together, Anything Is Possible’. They know it doesn’t have toi be like this. Earlier this year, 20 clubs wrote an open letter to the government calling for a ban on gambling adverts in football.

Reports show that if gambling sponsorship was banned and replaced, it would lead to just a 2.5% cut in revenues. I believe that’s a price worth paying and so do clubs like Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Tranmere Rovers. In the Scottish Premier League, Hearts have openly commented that they found it fairly easy to find alternative sponsors.

I’m calling on AFC Bournemouth fans to join with a growing wave of support for an end to gambling sponsorship in football.

In doing so, we can:

Make football a safer place for its community, young and old, to not feel pressured into gambling.

Give children the chance to wear the same shirts as their parents and the players they adore.

Make AFC Bournemouth a club where those who have been harmed by gambling can watch the club they love without encouragement to gamble.

Please support me by adding your name to this petition.