New UK sports minister expected to address FA gambling sponsorship

The new UK sports minister is likely to be involved in tackling concerns over betting sponsorship in football after gambling was reinstated to his job portfolio following the Government reshuffle.

Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire, has a wider cultural and tourism brief than predecessors, covering all aspects of the betting and lottery industry in his new role with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), The Telegraph reports. As part of his role he will also have responsibility on the Government side for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

He takes on gambling and lotteries at a time when the regulation of the gambling industry and its relationship with sport is under scrutiny. The former sports minister Nigel Adams held meetings with the FA (Football Association) after concerns were raised over the FA Cup's broadcasting rights sold by a third party to gambling firms, but gambling is now a cemented part of Huddleston's brief. Adams has since been made Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Government reshuffle.

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios says football needs to "wean" itself off gambling sponsorship. He told BBC Radio programme football's links with the betting industry had gone "too far". As chairman of Tranmere Rovers FC, he said he would not accept gambling sponsorship and had rejected an offer from a major betting company last year. 

The English Football League said football and the gambling industry worked together responsibly. A spokesman said: "The EFL itself continues to have a successful relationship with Sky Bet who, as a responsible, properly regulated bookmaker, recognise the importance of having the right safeguards in place." Any marketing of the partnership promoted best practice and protected minors and the vulnerable, he added.

The Premier League said it did not have a central gambling partner and sponsorship deals were up to individual clubs. In the top two tiers of English football, nearly 60% of clubs are signed up to sponsorship agreements with gambling companies.

Palios said the offer he had rejected had included a plan to place betting terminals inside the ground. "This is a family club that's firmly rooted in the community and from our perspective it's the wrong thing to do to get associated with the gambling industry," he said. "We can't change the bigger picture in terms of the football industry being involved to the extent it is but from a personal perspective that's what we do.”