Gambling & Football – name a more iconic duo; we’re waiting…
As the first renditions of those immortal Christmas songs
chime out over the airwaves, we thought it’d be the
perfect time for a festive themed history lesson – we like
to occasionally flex our muscles and show that we know
about more than just sports on this team… In 1461, the
English parliament banned all iterations of gambling,
except for over the 12 days of Christmas – presumably
because what’s Christmas without a cheeky flutter?! We
thought we’d emulate King Edward IV’s soft spot for
gambling and the wider industry of gaming to provide
some food for thought.
With Casinos and Sports games now dwelling in your
pocket and the lure of free money only the touch of a
button away, we deliberate why although gambling
dents your bank account, it might actually make you
more knowledgeable and increase your interest in sport.
Human endeavors such as exploration, work, and war
all involve taking calculated risks in order to secure a
gain. Gambling and gaming is no different. Most human
cultures around the world have engaged in some form
of gambling. The act has been around in some form or
another for thousands of years. Taking risks is an
intrinsic part of our existence – deep I know. Where it
differs from the aforementioned endeavors is that these
gambling games are a culturally limited form of risk
taking that typically don’t involve any real threat to one’s
life or health (although the humiliation of losing a private
bet to your best mate is arguably as mentally damaging
as any fathomable torture).
A recent BBC investigation found during live football
broadcasts, 95% of all breaks across Sky Sports & ITV
Channels featured at least one advert from the gambling
sector. Gambling dominates football and football
dominates sports betting, accounting for more than 70%
of all bets placed and reigning supreme in the world of
Fantasy Sports. There’s a reason 40% of the English
Football League’s income from perimeter sales and half
of the shirt sponsorships in the Premier League are
courtesy of gambling.
Gambling and Football are made for each other, and
together they are changing the landscape of the game
and the dynamic of the fans.
We are seeing a trend of rising interest in the breadth of
entire sporting leagues rather than specific teams alone.
In the past, diehard fans would know their teams’ scores
and their main rivals’ scores, no doubt ripped from a
broadsheet. But now, the arise of digital and mobile has
given birth to a plethora of sporting information available
at everyone’s fingertips allowing fans to know every
aspect of every game. Bookmakers’ development of
‘Cash-Out,’ ‘Football Pools,’ and ‘Sweepstakes’ have
encouraged fans to follow every and any game thanks
to the lure of a potential increase in their bank account.
With betting apps throwing notifications and live updates
of games onto your phone’s home screen faster than
the likes of dedicated apps such as BBC Sport, it’s
definitely making the former a first port of call for live
scores.
Our bespoke research tool, Sponsor DNA, confirms this
harmonious relationship of football and gambling.
Sponsor DNA measures consumer’s perceptions of
brands and Rights Holders, across 14 measures,
allowing us to analyse the performance of current
sponsorships as well as match brands with suitable
future sports events. Amongst the data we h ave collated
for the past 4 years, 7 betting brands appear in the
masses, including the likes of Betfair and Ladbrokes. All
7 brands positively correlate strongly with 2 of the
biggest UK football competitions, The Premier League
and The Football League Championship. In other words,
gambling may sometimes get bad press from the media,
yet it seems that consumers perceive the relationship of
bookmakers and football to be anything but.
This power couple of football and gambling has evolved
fans from what may have been just your average
follower to a Pub Quiz God . The increasing accessibility
to Bookmakers is evolving the game that we love and
evolving the fans that love the game – that’s a quid pro
quo we’d go all in for.