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Former FA head pushes back on gambling sponsorship

FORMER FA head Mark Palios says that football needs to “wean itself off” sponsorship from gambling companies in the future.

The sport’s relationship with gambling has been increasingly in the spotlight after it emerged that some FA Cup ties could only be viewed by people who had active accounts with a betting company, under a deal struck by the Football Association in 2017.

The English Football League has been sponsored by betting operator Sky Bet since 2013, but Palios believes that links between football and the betting industry have gone too far.

The chairman of League One club Tranmere told BBC Radio 4 that he had rejected an approach last year from a betting company that wanted to place terminals inside the club’s ground.

“This is a family club that’s firmly rooted in the community and from our perspective it’s the wrong thing to do to get associated with the gambling industry,” Palios said.

“We can’t change the bigger picture in terms of the football industry being involved to the extent it is, but from a personal perspective that’s what we do.

“I think football has to wean itself off the position it is in at the moment and that’s the best verb I can use. I think it’s certainly gone too far.”

Palios also admitted that a former employee had stolen from the club to feed their gambling addiction and that he has helped a number of players with gambling problems.

“I see gambling as something that is pernicious,” he said. “People get hooked into it and it is a hidden addiction.

“You see people stealing from their employers, as we’ve seen, and it destroys relationships and fundamentally damages family units and family units are a massive part of the community.”

Brigid Simmonds, chairman of standards body the Betting and Gaming Council, said it would “soon consult on a new advertising code of practice, including on sport and sponsorship, as part of our safer gambling commitments.

“We recognise that there are areas for improvement and are determined to achieve a better balance between protecting young people and those vulnerable to harm with the positive contribution that betting makes to sport.”

On Sunday, Everton announced that the club will cut short their partnership agreement with online betting firm SportPesa.

The Kenyan gaming brand, which has been on the club’s shirts since a five-year deal was struck in May 2017, has agreed to the termination of its contract at the end of the season.

Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale admitted at the club’s annual general meeting in January that “in an ideal world” the team would not be sponsored by a gambling company.

In response to the BBC File on 4 programme, the EFL said football and the gambling industry work together in a “responsible manner,” while the Premier League said sponsorship deals were up to individual clubs.

The FA said: “We made a clear decision on the FA’s relationship with gambling companies in June 2017 when we ended our partnership with Ladbrokes.”

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