Football’s Grip on the Gambling Industry | OneFootball

Anytime Assist. Bet Builder. Super Sub. An alliterative assault on the subconscious minds of punters yearning for a new dawn. A prerequisite to a weekend for many, but a pandemic to the unfortunate few who are ensnared with addiction in this deceitful industry.

From paid promotions and advertising to sponsorships and marketing ingenuity, football, supposedly a fan-centric sport, is now drowned out by the chance to improve the bottom line. As touched on before, fiscal results are overtaking football results in terms of importance.

The betting industry has transformed exponentially in the past decade. According to the University of Bristol Business School, Premier League fans were exposed to 29,000 gambling-related advertisements over the opening weekend of the season. An increase of 165% on the opening season last year. Advertising was seen across TV, radio, social media, logos, and pitchside hoarding.

The Match Day Agenda

The growth of the gambling industry will come as no surprise to many; increased mediums for advertising, the digital age, and the online influence all contribute to the gambling culture in football. Take your typical match day for your typical match day fan and envisage the amount of gambling-related touchpoints they experience.

This is a toned-down version, and it goes without saying the above touchpoints may occur several times, and it is certainly not a linear process.

The Growing Gambling Influence

Video Games

Where does the growth in the gambling culture stem from? The accessibility to place a bet has never been simpler. One can place on anything from football to a game of FIFA, from politics to ping pong. We now see some of our most famous sports stars endorsing this gambling culture.

For many football fans, their childhood and teenage years were centred around the FIFA video game series. An opportunity to emulate your heroes in a digital world—playing like them, scoring like them, celebrating like them—was every child’s dream.

For those less familiar, FIFA Ultimate Team is a game mode that lets you compete against other players online. The aim is to have the best team possible, made up of the top players, in order to beat other gamers with the same goal.

FIFA coins and FIFA points were easily accessible online, and FIFA points can be directly purchased through the game, and in turn, this virtual currency would then open FIFA ‘Packs’. This is where the risk was taken.

Basically, similar to trading card games such as ‘Match Attax,’ players would open these packs in awe, dreaming of opening to jubilant scenes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi emerging on to their TV screen to flares and music. Gamers who buy a player pack in FIFA have no way of knowing what the pack contains until after they’ve paid for it, hence why there is an associated risk.

More often than not, gamers would be left disappointed, packing average players far from the pace and power of high-flying stars, lingering in awe of what could have been. Is this where the thrill of gambling stemmed for many? The seed planted as a 12-year-old craving for these coveted cards to surface on their TV screen?

The anticipation of opening a pack mirrors the thrill of placing a bet—exchanging money with the hope, though not the certainty, of coming out in a more advantageous position.

Influence of Sports Stars: The Good & The Bad

Where does the growth in the gambling culture stem from? The accessibility to place a bet has never been simpler. One can place on anything from football to a game of FIFA, from politics to ping pong. We now see some of our most famous sports stars endorsing this gambling culture.

Walking home from work, I was met by two billboards, showcasing the Tony Cascarino endorsed Tonybet, an international online gaming company providing sports betting, live betting and live gaming services.

Speaking on the gambling epidemic and the influence of sports stars in the industry, former Arsenal defender Paul Merson said:

Merson himself openly speaks about his gambling addiction, admitting to losing over £7 million throughout his life dogged with addiction. The former Arsenal and Aston Villa player is one of the most well-known sports stars affected by gambling. In 2021, Merson released a documentary called Football, Gambling, and Me. Throughout the documentary, the recovering addict speaks about his addiction and his struggles, but also speaks to psychiatrists to better understand the neurobiological basis of gambling addiction.

A courageous effort from the Sky Sports pundit in order to openly discuss such a monumental milestone in his life. Speaking about the documentary, he said:

The 56-year-old collaborated with West Ham United defender Gilly Flaherty and YouTuber Ellis Platten to speak about their addiction. The trio also speak about TalkBanStop, an app used to block all gambling websites. Check out the video here

Stake: A Sadistic Exposure of Social Media Advertising

For those not familiar with Stake, it is an online casino that uses X as one of its main advertising streams. Through paying high engagement accounts to overlay the Stake logo on their posts, albeit unrelated to gambling, the company offers payment to accounts to display the logo on images that they tweet.

Initially, the Stake phenomenon kicked off with streamers gambling live on the site, with viewers speculating that the streamers gamble was scripted, meaning Stake and the streamer in question were working in tandem to attract gamblers to the site.

Since then, Stake have grown; dubbed ‘a social casino,’ they are now Everton’s main shirt sponsor, which the Toffee’s faced significant backlash over. The club’s website page announcing their sponsorship is no longer live.

The Advertising Standards Authority has stated that it will “keep a watching brief” on the advertising activity of the company. This may land Stake in hot water due to exposing under-18’s to gambling advertising, something that the ASA had reprimanded Sky Bet for previously.

The advertisement is also not displayed as an ad on X as it is not bought through the advertising system on the site, bringing complaints of copyright infringement to the fore. The introduction of community notes on X has led to misinformation being curbed on the social media platform, however, with Elon Musk’s free speech campaign, will there ever be a complete prohibition on misinformation?

Transfer expert on X, Fabrizio Romano has been one of the many victims of pages using his content, watermarked with a logo, in order to obtain advertising revenue.

With Stake basically finding a loophole in the X regulations, it proves to be an issue of morality. The gambling regulation for X reads that the platform “ prohibits the promotion of gambling content, except for campaigns targeting specified countries where it is allowed with restrictions as explained below,” where it continues to outline varying laws in a number of countries.

A Growing Epidemic

It can’t be denied that a lot of intricate regulations need introduction. Between smart marketing techniques and a bending of the laws, these betting companies will find a way to contribute their message regardless of the medium.

In advance of the Manchester Derby, Gambling.com had a number of billboards in prime locations with the message ‘Manchester, are you blue or red’. Once again, although not directly calling punters to gamble on the match, a subconscious reminder of the influence that these money-grabbing firms have on hopeful speculators

The saying ‘the bookies always win’ fails to prevent the millions of punters each night from betting, not just on the kick of a ball but on the fragile hope that fate owes them a favour.