Football league clubs have been MAKING MONEY from supporters’ gambling losses 32
Football league clubs have been MAKING MONEY from supporters’ gambling losses 33
Football league clubs have been MAKING MONEY from supporters’ gambling losses 34
Football league clubs have been MAKING MONEY from supporters’ gambling losses 35
Football League clubs MAKE MONEY from their own supporters’ gambling losses through the controversial Sky Bet scheme, which has been branded ‘exploitative’ and has been discontinued…although some clubs STILL benefit from it
Football League clubs monetize supporters lost betsAn affiliate arrangement with Sky Bet allowed clubs to take a percentage of the lossesThe scheme was discontinued in 2020, but some EFL sides are still benefitingA bigger championship earned £10,000 annually from supporters’ losses
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Football League clubs have made money from their supporters’ gambling losses, it has turned out.
Under an affiliate scheme that has sparked outrage, members of the EFL pocketed a percentage of supporters’ losses when they placed unsuccessful bets on league sponsor Sky Bet.
The scheme – which MP Carolyn Harris labeled as operating on Wednesday – was discontinued at the end of the 2019-20 season, having been set up in 2013 and extended in 2017.
EFL clubs monetize their own fans’ gambling losses with Sky Bet
However, the EFL has admitted that some sides will continue to benefit, and they will until the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
Some of the bigger Championship clubs were making around £10,000 annually from the deal, with the clubs acting as an intermediary, sending bettors Sky Bet’s way and then collecting a percentage of the money lost.
Fans were invited to click on links to Sky Bet and register accounts on the club’s websites.
Those bills were subsequently traced and the club in question subsequently picked up some of the subsequent losses.
Some championship clubs earn up to £10,000 annually through the scheme
It remains to be seen whether Premier League clubs that have or had sponsorship deals with bookmakers received similar incentives.
A draft white paper intended to reform gambling laws has been shelved a number of times and there are concerns that new Prime Minister Liz Truss could drop it.
Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who is trying to keep the white paper alive, told the Guardian the deal was ‘terrible’.
“The fact that a football club can take advantage of this goes against everything they should stand for: support for their fans, for the people who go to the ground,” he said.
There are concerns that Prime Minister Liz Truss could drop plans to reform gambling laws
Labor MP Carolyn Harris said there seems to be evidence that clubs are exploiting their own fans
Labor MP Carolyn Harris, co-chair of a cross-party parliamentary group investigating gambling-related harm, added: “This appears to be evidence that football clubs are exploiting their own fans, some of whom will be gambling addicts, by participating. of every cent they lose to greedy bookmakers.”
An EFL spokesperson said: “As the EFL and Sky Bet renewed their long-standing partnership for the 2019/20 season, we placed greater emphasis on putting safer gambling at the heart of the agreement. As a result, the previous affiliated scheme has lapsed.
“While some clubs will receive revenue from old sign-ups that occurred before the new agreement, the existing affiliate scheme has been phased out and all sign-up links through EFL Digital channels have been removed.”