GambleAware initiates football-related online campaign, #CanWeHaveOurBallBack

GambleAware has started a new social media campaign called #CanWeHaveOurBallBack, for increasing the awareness about the relationship between football and betting.

The predominantly video-studded initiative is intended to encourage active conversation about the impact of betting on football.

The organisation has launched this campaign fully online because a recent study found that gambling companies spend 80 per cent of their marketing budget for online advertising. It also chose football as the launch vehicle for the campaign also because of a reason: football seems to be widely used as the tool for the normalisation of gambling for children. The Gambling Commission estimates that 450,000 children spend money on gambling and among them 55,000 are problem gamblers. The Commission also figures out that 59 per cent of 11–16-year-olds have watched a gambling-related advertisement online, and about 13 per cent of them follow gambling companies on social media.

GambleAware has commissioned a research study to find out the impacts of gambling-related marketing, which will be completed by 2019. The organisation hopes to spark a public discourse with the #CanWeHaveOurBallBack campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwgV5bT1EM0

Marc Etches, GambleAware’s Chief Executive, said: “We recognise that gambling-related sponsorship and advertising are important sources of funding for both professional football and grass-roots community participation in the sport. However, there is growing public concern about the nature and extent of the relationship between football and betting. In particular, whether the extent of betting-related marketing around football is contributing to the normalisation of gambling for children.”