Will gambling control UK football or it is already doing it?

At the beginning of this month the Italian Government decided to ban completely gambling advertising. This new law is likely to create lots of issues for the 12 teams in the Serie A that do depend from gambling sponsorships. But what about the UK? The penetration of gambling firms into the Premier League but more and more into the Championship and lower leagues is increasing rapidly. Are we already at a point of no return?
Imagine for a second that the same thing would have happened in the UK. What would have been the impact on football clubs that are largely depending from gambling to sustain the high costs of running their businesses. As it is unlikely that others sponsors will come up with the same offers, the only choice for the vast majority of teams would be to sell their best players in order to survive. But with all the teams affected who will have enough money to buy their players? The effect could easily be a crush of the UK football as we know it.
‘As we have seen in Italy football has become in the last decade more and more depending from gambling’ said Ethan Rowe chief editor of casino bonus aggregator CasinoBiggestBonus.com. ‘In Italy lots of teams will have to scratch their heads to find alternative recourses and it is not guarantee that they will find it. The Italian Football has been in crisis for a while as if you exclude Juventus, the remainder of the once-great teams like Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Lazio, Parma and others have been struggling to stay at high level. Surely in England the situation is different in regards to TV rights that are significantly higher than in Italy, yet especially teams from the Championship and League One and Two could severely been affected if a similar regulation will be adopted in the UK’.
Only few hours ago 10Bet has signed a new deal with Blackburn Rovers FC showing that betting firms are looking well beyond the Premier League and actually are adopting a much more ‘localised’ strategy that will allow them to reach smaller reality with probably a bigger impact in terms of straight return. This deal is just the last one of many we have seen this summer so far. LeoVegas-owned iGaming brand Bet UK has yesterday been named the official sponsor of English Football League Championship club Swansea City AFC.
But is gambling now controlling UK football to the point that regulators will have to think twice before doing any laws that could affect gambling advertising to avoid crushing other markets? ‘I think we will be going a bit too far by saying that gambling is controlling football. It is sure fair to say that both gambling and football are in need each other,’ added Rowe. ‘Gambling need football as it gives brands immediate awareness and trust from local communities. The main challenge for newcomers in the gambling industry is to create strong ties with local communities. Doing a deal with a team like Swansea FC allow a brand an immediate increase in credibility and trust and will help them diversify from the huge competition. Football on the other hand need gambling as they have very high costs and the gambling industry is one of the few out there that still have large marketing budgets to swallow similar costs’.