Sunderland A.F.C: Kick gambling ads out of football!

My name is Joe, I am in recovery from a Gambling Addiction, and ever since my first game at Roker Park in 1995 I have been obsessed with football and in particular Sunderland Association Football Club.

I ended up being correctly imprisoned for nearly 5 years after committing fraud to the value of around three quarters of a million pounds which I used to fund my gambling addiction. I am now approaching 6 years into my recovery from Gambling, attending Gambling Anonymous meetings weekly. I am passionate about my recovery and take it seriously for both myself and my loved ones.

As part of the many stringent barriers to prevent any risk of relapse, I have not been back to the Stadium of Light since June 2017. On 26th April 2022 I was rather proud to write to what I still considered, my club, as I was led to believe that at the moment, due to my family still attending games, there is next to no promotion of Gambling apart from the obvious Sky Bet mentions due to the league sponsorship which is out of the club’s hands.

My letter was to introduce to the club a campaign, close to my heart called, The Big Step. Their campaign is to end all gambling advertising and sponsorship in football, led by people harmed by gambling. They are part of Gambling with Lives, a charity set up by the families and friends of young people who have taken their own lives as a direct result of gambling.

Sunderland A.F.C also have a recent past with the Gambling Industry, the club was made been aware of the potential harm gambling can cause to their supporters, both young and old. Following the club’s sponsorship with Dafabet (2015-2019), they were set to be replaced with BetDaq in 2019.

However, GVC, who owned BetDaq pulled out of all their existing shirt sponsorship deals as part of their ‘Changing for the Bettor’ initiative as they stated they were dedicated to tackling harm caused by gambling. GVC committed to unilaterally ending all football shirt sponsorship deals with UK teams and banning perimeter board advertising at football grounds, to allow sporting fans to watch their favourite teams without seeing any incentives to bet.

Next door to the Beacon of Light is now the home for the NHS Northern Gambling Service which has opened a new clinic in the Northeast which will see and treat more of the thousands of people across the north of England suffering with gambling addiction.

On 29th June 2022, still having heard nothing from my club, it was announced that their new shirt sponsor was to be Spread-Ex. At this current time, I can never see myself ever returning to the Stadium of Light and have never felt as distant from the club I truly loved.