Champions League 2024: Uefa's decision to team up with a ...

Changes to the format of this year’s Uefa Champions League tournament have been much discussed by fans and pundits. The world’s most prestigious club football competition, featuring the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Inter Milan will now work as a league table rather than a series of group stages.

Much less has been said about another big pre-tournament announcement – which declared Uefa’s new official global partner to be a major British gambling company.

Exactly how much Uefa’s deal with bet365 is worth has not been publicly disclosed. But the social costs of gambling are known to be high.

A recent major survey showed that the scale of harm caused by gambling in the UK could be eight times higher than previously thought. This equates to an estimated 1.3 million people dealing with the negative impact of gambling, which can include getting into debt, turning to crime to finance their habit, losing their home and the breakdown of relationships.

The harm is particularly prevalent among men and young people. More than one in ten of those who took part in the survey said they had considered suicide.

Of course, Uefa is not the first sporting body to get involved with betting companies. Gambling sponsorship has increased rapidly in the English Premier League, despite concerns over its impact on public health.

Research also suggests that football plays a major part in allowing the advertising and marketing of gambling – particularly as sports broadcasting avoids post-watershed guidelines in reaching significant audiences of children and young people.

For bet365, that reach will include valuable exposure on media backdrops, LED pitch perimeter displays and digital channels. The sponsorship will involve ticket giveaways for fans, mirroring the tactics used to promote gambling and engage fans in the Premier League.

The company said it was delighted with the partnership. According to Uefa, 1.7 billion people watch the Champions League, and sponsors with deep pockets are often keen to align themselves with football’s global audience.

Uefa meanwhile, which earned revenue of €4.3 billion (£3.6 billion) in 2022-2023, mostly from selling broadcasting rights, needs to keep making money. And bet365 can provide plenty of it. The company’s boss, Denise Coates, is reportedly the richest woman in Britain.

The smart money?

But professional football seems to be presenting a mixed – and very confusing – message about gambling. For while Uefa partners with bet365, the Premier League is banning clubs from having gambling sponsors featured on the front of players’ shirts from the 2026-2027 season.

This follows similar bans in Serie A (Italy) since 2019, and La Liga (Spain) in 2021. And while the ban is welcome, it represents only a small part of the gambling advertising that now saturates football.

To add to the confusion there are cases like striker Ivan Toney being given an eight month ban by the Football Association in May 2023 for breaching its gambling laws, and then returning to play for Brentford FC with “Hollywoodbets” plastered on the front of his shirt.

So Uefa has placed its cards on the table, adding to evidence which shows how gambling activities and businesses have been firmly embedded into sport. Betano was Uefa’s partner for the men’s Euro 2024 tournament, and have just been announced as sponsors for the Europa and Europa Conference competitions.

This all contributes to what has been described as the “gamblification” of sport, which involves marketing imagery and language designed to create an emotional connection between sport and gambling.

Gamblification involves promoting the idea that betting on sport is fun and adds to the excitement of being a fan. It takes advantage of the fact anyone with a phone effectively has a betting shop in their pocket, allowing them to bet at any time on everything from the final match score to the timing of the first corner.

“In-play betting” – gambling that occurs after a match has started – was popularised by bet365, and reportedly generates around 80% of the company’s revenue.

Of course, both Uefa and bet365 pay lip service to the concept of “responsible gambling”. Even the gambling company’s press release about joining up with Uefa references it.

But the term is misleading, given that all gambling carries a degree of risk. And it puts the full blame of using gambling products in a harmful way on the individual.

Uefa meanwhile, claim that they use the visibility and popularity of football to promote health and wellbeing. In fact, European football’s governing body is now actively contributing to gambling profits – while risking an increase in gambling harm among the sport’s devoted followers.