FA Quits Ladbrokes Sponsorship Deal After Player Betting Controversies

FA Quits Ladbrokes Sponsorship Deal After Player Betting Controversies

The Football Association, English Soccer’s governing human body, has severed its four-year sponsorship deal with Ladbrokes after just one season.

The FA announced on Thursday it would be not just cutting short its deal with Ladbrokes, worth some £4 million ($5 million) each year, but also are banning all commercial sponsorship deals between betting organizations and the FA now and in the near future.

Ladbrokes will no much longer be the official bookie of the FA, as English soccer’s governing body reassesses popular betting shops to its relationship.

The relationship between your FA and gambling has come under increased scrutiny, due to a few high-profile player betting scandals. The attention comes at a right time when English soccer is getting more included with gambling businesses. (Presently 50 per cent of Premier League teams have a bookmaker or other gambling operations as their consistent sponsor.)

Most recently, Burnley player Joey Barton was handed a 18-month suspension after he admitted to putting 1,260 bets on soccer matches since 2004. At 34-years-old, the midfielder says the ban on all activities related to soccer will end his career effectively.

Barton publicly criticized the FA on social media for failing to acknowledge its conflict that is clear of with regards to gambling.

’In the event that FA is certainly intent on tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to check at it (więcej…)