APPG Backs Petition To End Gambling Ads In Football
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform has backed a petition asking the government to end gambling advertising in football, a day after new research counted how many betting messages fans still see on Premier League broadcasts.
The move adds to pressure that already includes a House of Lords committee report urging a total ban on gambling advertising.
The Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA) handed the petition in at 10 Downing Street on Thursday 22 October, with the APPG's support. CEGA said on the day of the handover that more than 27,800 people had signed.
The petition, run through 38 Degrees, argues that children cannot legally gamble yet are exposed to betting marketing every time they watch football, and asks ministers to remove it from the game for good.
A Week Of Events In Parliament
The petition followed a busy Wednesday. On 21 October the APPG brought MPs, peers, researchers and campaigners together in Parliament for the launch of new research from Dr Raffaello Rossi at the University of Bristol, a drop-in session and a photocall.
Peter and Steph Shilton, Will Prochaska and Nick Harvey from CEGA, and Matt Zarb-Cousin from Clean Up Gambling, all took part.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, co-chair of the APPG, said the Bristol findings were further evidence that the voluntary approach to gambling advertising in football is failing.
He said the front-of-shirt restriction had barely scratched the surface and called on the government to bring in tougher rules and close loopholes in the current system.
What The Bristol Research Found
The University of Bristol study is the fourth in a yearly series. It recorded 15,571 gambling messages across the Premier League opening weekend, which is lower than in 2024 but still 41.57% above the 10,999 counted in 2023. During live matches, at least one gambling message was on screen for five hours and 16 minutes in total, close to a fifth of broadcast time.
The front-of-shirt restriction removed gambling logos from shirt fronts, but the researchers estimate it contributed to a fall of only 10.5% in live-match messages. Branding on sleeves and training kits rose by more than 360%, and pitchside advertising made up 72% of all messages during live play. The busiest match was Newcastle United against Liverpool, with 2,702 messages, or more than 12 a minute.
The report also compared the Premier League with other competitions. Across its four-year UK sample, Premier League games averaged 2,449 messages each, against 1,677 for the Bundesliga, 483 for NBA and NHL coverage in the United States and 505 for the same leagues in Canada.
On social media, researchers found 1,023 paid adverts on Facebook and Instagram with an estimated UK reach of 153.2 million accounts, including 16.6 million instances of reach among 18 to 24-year-olds.
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Lords Report And Sponsorship Calls
The APPG said the week's activity came as the House of Lords Liaison Committee called for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising to be introduced as soon as practicable. It also pointed to its joint report with Peers for Gambling Reform, which called for a fundamental change in the government's approach. The group's recommendations for reform include ending all gambling sponsorship in sport, with horseracing and greyhound racing excluded.
None of the sources reviewed report a government response to the petition. Gambling marketing in the UK is currently governed by a mix of Advertising Standards Authority rules and voluntary industry codes, which the Bristol researchers say have not meaningfully reduced exposure to betting sites during live matches. Any change would need ministers to act on the calls from campaigners and parliamentarians.
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