The labour party wants to ban betting firms from sponsoring football shirts The opposition party in England wants to tackle the gambling problem starting from football jerseys

Betting firms have always had an important position in the english football especially after 1994 when Premier League was enstablished. At the same time, United Kingdom is trying to limit the power of the betting firms in order to reduce the social plague of the betting addiction.

Today, the deputy leader Tom Watson of the Labour Party - that now is the opposition party, since the conservative party won the last elections - proposed to ban football club from signing shirt sponsorship deals with betting companies.

The policy is understood to be the first of a series of proposals to curb the power of gambling firms, ramping up pressure on the government. The deputy Tom Watson hopes that betting firms will be treated as the tobacco companies, that were banned by sponsoring sports in 2005. The deputy added: 

“Shirt sponsorship sends out a message that football clubs don’t take problem gambling among their own fans seriously enough. It puts gambling brands in front of fans of all ages, not just at matches but on broadcasts and highlights packages on both commercial television and the BBC.”

Watson highlighted the figures from industry watchdog, the Gambling Commission, which last month indicated a rise in the number of problem gamblers to 430,000, meant football should distance itself from the industry.

Football Association rules already prohibit youth teams from wearing clothing that displays products considered “detrimental to the welfare, health or general interests of young persons” – including gambling. Last month the FA announced it was ending its sponsorship deals with betting companies and terminated a contract with Ladbrokes worth about 4,3 millions of euros a year.