The EPL and other UK sports bodies have announced their adoption of a new code of conduct focused on gambling sponsorships. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Gambling sponsorship code

The English Premier League, the British Horseracing Association (BHA), and other UK soccer organizations have announced the adoption of a new Code of Conduct for Gambling Related Agreements in Football.

four principles focused on gambling sponsorship

The various bodies have issued the new “socially responsible” code of conduct comprised of four principles focused on gambling sponsorship, as shared by the BHA on X:

Atop the principles list is a directive to “protect children and other vulnerable persons” via limiting by design the reach and impact of gambling branding and marketing.

The remaining three principles are social responsibility, reinvestment, and integrity. The soccer franchises, sports entities, and gambling firms will be expected to follow the principles established in the code from the start of start of the 2024-25 soccer season in August.

Principles to abide by

According to an EPL news release, soccer authorities and national sports bodies have agreed to adopt the code in line with the UK government’s April gambling white paper, “with each sport committed to producing a code specific for their own sport.”

requires commercial monies made from gambling sponsorships gets re-injected into infrastructure

Other than the protection of minors and at-risk gamblers, the new code includes a social responsibility principle to observe via the publishing of gambling education and awareness communications. Reinvestment, meanwhile, requires commercial monies made from gambling sponsorships gets re-injected into infrastructure and programs serving local communities and soccer fans.

The fourth principle requires gambling sponsorship to not “compromise the integrity of football competitions nor harm the welfare of those participants who take part in them.”

When it comes to compliance, the BHA’s news release revealed it would work with the UK’s department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to monitor the impact of the new code and how various entities are complying with it. A review of the code will follow after 12 months of it being operational to address “any issues learned from the implementation process.”

White paper effect

The move to adopt the new code of conduct shows the recommendations in the Gambling Act 2005 review finally becoming reality. EPL franchises, however, pre-empted the white paper’s release by becoming the UK’s first major sports league to voluntarily and collectively commit to axing front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships from the end of the 2025-26 season.

That has, nevertheless, not stopped some EPL franchises from making hay while the sun shines. This week, AFC Bournemouth became the 11^th team in the English elite league to ink a front-of-shirt sports betting partnership, a move an anti-gambling body slammed as “greed.”