A frantic week of gambling developments saw the FA, Premier League, EFL and Women’s Super League agree to a new code of conduct on gambling agreements.

To be enforced from the start of the upcoming football season, stakeholders have agreed to apply the four pillars of protection, social responsibility, reinvestment and integrity on gambling sponsorships. 

Martyn Elliott is joined by Ted Menmuir, SBC’s Content Director, and Ted Orme-Claye, Editor of Insider Sport, on the latest episode of iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove, to examine the new code in greater detail.

The issue of gambling sponsorships in football has been a long-running issue and Menmuir describes the new code of conduct as “long overdue” in the wake of the UK Gambling Commission’s (UKGC) White Paper Review. 

He said: “If we recall on the marketing segment of the gambling review, the actual paper related to marketing and sponsorship was kept quite vague. The government said that it would allow sports bodies and sports leagues that have a big exposure to gambling to form their own code of conduct related to gambling sponsorship.

“The code of conduct must respect the current CAP laws and must be working within the framework of the gambling review. They wanted it to uphold integrity, social responsibility, but most importantly, to protect underage and vulnerable audiences [and] this is English football’s unified response to that mandate of the gambling review.”

The code of conduct is designed to be implemented across all tiers of English football, from the Premier League down to the youth level, and the trio discussed how the clubs will be held accountable for adhering to the rules.

Menmuir said: “From the start of next season, clubs have to file with the leagues and the UKGC their performance reports, what social initiatives have been initiated and the coverage and visibility of the brand within the match day. [Also], there has to be a monetary filing on the reinvestment made by that sponsorship towards the club and its community.

He added that he can foresee “two tiers of gambling sponsorship” developing between companies that apply the new provisions and focus more on social impact versus those that are focused on gaining exposure in English football.”

In April, Premier League clubs agreed to a self-imposed ban on front-of-shirt sponsorship deals, set to begin from the 2026/27 season onwards.

The ban does not cover other parts of a team kit, which is why BetMGM recently agreed to a partnership with Tottenham Hotspur to be featured across the club’s training wear. 

On the deal: Orme-Claye said: “This is actually quite a significant one because you’re always going to see videos and pictures from training sessions this branding will be featured.

“It’ll be interesting to see if that ends up getting addressed in a couple of years time in a regulatory sense. It could end up getting raised within the contect of these long-running debates we’re seeing around betting sponsorship and marketing.”

Towards the end of the show, Martyn asks the two Teds whether they believe that the new code will quell reformists’ demands on English football to end its relationship with gambling.

Although Orme-Claye is sceptical, Menmuir has a better outlook on its potential positive impact on the game. 

“I think that the code can take the debate on gambling sponsorships to a better platform,” he explained. “That can be done if it has transparency from the DCMS and the leagues and the gambling commission where they’re saying the people that are doing it right are reinvesting and it’s visible in communities and the grassroots.”

“There will be bad sponsorships [and] those are the ones that need to be phased out of football. I think that gambling can form a part of sports, but it has to be conducted in a much better manner and have a social impact. I think that’s what leadership actually wants at the end of the day and it can get there. It just needs better boundaries to be formed.”