Nothing funny about gambling’s grip on football
The grip that gambling companies have on our football is out of control. The game is rampantly sponsored by an industry that players are rightly instructed to steer clear of. Last week my hometown club announced my favourite player had accepted a misconduct charge relating to betting on matches.
He’s not the first and won’t be the last. But I want to raise something about gambling and football that isn’t being talked about at all. Betting companies are dominating not only the football sponsorship scene, but the football content scene too.
From the hideously over-exposed ex-players whose popular online content is financed by gambling companies, to the bombardment of little skits from that Irish betting company, trading on football ‘banter’.
Such content should be unwelcome, but it’s not. And many football fans, including me, are falling into the trap set for us, by sharing clips. It’s time we see them for who they are, not what they claim to be.
The new entrapment device is humour. And by humour, I don’t mean anything that will have us weeping with laughter on our sofas or in the aisles. No, this is best described as ‘banter’. And football fans like banter, it’s that simple. We click, have a chuckle and share. Some of us sign up and bet. And bet more. I’m lucky I don’t have an addictive personality, and only use free bets. Some who use their own money know when to stop. Some don’t. And it ruins lives.
Clips are being watched without anyone questioning who makes them and what their agenda is. It’s to sanitise and legitimise gambling companies, to bring them onside with us, make them fluffy. The very opposite of someone who loses a home, a family, a life, due to being able to gamble thousands with a click of a mobile phone button.
Read on for Neville, Keane, Carragher, Merson, Ivan Toney and how a dead footballer’s name was used in new manager’s odds…