Football Governance Bill is debated in UK, along with gambling in the sport

A House of Lords debate on the Football Governance Bill has taken place in the UK this week, with a number of changes proposed including gambling.

Lord Dominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington, who is the Vice President of the UK Sports Association, suggested four amendments to the legislation which focuses on betting sponsorship in football.

The Football Governance Bill aims to establish the Independent Football Regulator, as well as to make provision for the licensing of football clubs and the distribution of revenue received by organizers of football competitions.

Speaking within parliament, Lord Addington shared his opinion: “Certain sports such as horseracing tend to be dependent on gambling, but we have something of a surfeit of gambling advertising on our televisions: it is everywhere.

“In these amendments, I am suggesting that football might be one place we could do without it.

“The revenue might be very useful to the clubs involved, but we have already heard about the huge reach of football as a subject, and the fact that there is a huge demand for it. Can we not get rid of gambling here?”

Lord Addington continues, “We have to do something here; it has got ridiculous.”

In the debate, he asked if there could be some steps taken to “stop advertising in football being quite so pervasive? It is not just on television, is on the radio, et cetera.”

The amendments suggest initiating a review of advertising and sponsorship in English football, creating a legal duty for clubs to prevent gambling advertising and sponsorship in football and a duty to eventually phase the practice out entirely.

The suggestions put forward by Lord Addington haven’t made it into the bill after the report stage, but the discussion around it suggests some future discussions may be necessary.

The report stage in the House of Lords is in progress, with the bill then progressing into the third reading before it will then make it into the House of Commons. There are a number of other stages before it reaches the final consideration of amendments.

Featured Image: Via Weloc on Wikimedia Commons

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