Sport and the Normalisation of Gambling Carwyn Jones Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol/Cardiff Metropolitan University 1

Background opportunities for gambling are growing fast (in part due to the Gambling Act 2005) gambling is dangerous because it can be addictive (Potenza et al 2002) gambling in society is controversial (no ordinary commodity) gambling expansion should be challenged 2

"The other thing that worries me is all the betting advertising and sponsorship in sport. All you ever see is commercials for gambling and apps, it is really dangerous and I think we need to do something about both of them, alcohol and gambling” deals 3

Sport Conduit for gambling expansion in 2 ways 1.Gives people something to bet on (new in- play betting – a real concern in terms of corruption) 2.A vehicle to promote and advertise – apps, websites 4

Increased opportunities the more opportunities there is to gamble the more gambling takes place. results in more pathological or problem gambling – ‘total population consumption model’. Constraints have been removed “The presence of space-time restrictions probably constitutes the principal set of factors responsible for a more restrained level of population engagement in an activity” (Orford 2011: 113) 5

Promoting gambling Limited evidence on the effect of advertising and inducements on gambling habits in general and of young people in particular. 42% of youths reported that gambling adverts make them want to try - 61% fantasise about spending winnings (Derevensky et al 2007) Millions spent on advertising in many forms (£150 million in the UK), television, social media, billboards and so forth. The aim is to get people to spend more and recruit new customers. Evidence in relation to alcohol promotion shows that exposure to alcohol advertising and alcohol brands have an effect on awareness of alcohol, brand identification and use of alcohol. 6

Gambling industry Code for socially responsible gambling 7

Children watching sport “The proliferation of gambling advertising within sport has the effect of normalising it, making it an integral component of sporting activities and an accepted part of participating and enjoying sports, and particularly influencing the attitudes of children and young people” Australian Psychological Society. FIFA 2014 World Cup - viewers of an entire programme would be exposed to one alcohol reference per minute of playing time and around 10 alcohol commercials. Half of the games they analysed would have been watched by over a million under 18s. content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2014/10/Alcohol-Marketing-at- the-FIFA-World-Cup-2014_pdf.pdf accessed 12/09/ content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2014/10/Alcohol-Marketing-at- the-FIFA-World-Cup-2014_pdf.pdf 8

Children watching sport 1.3 million children (4-15) watched both the UEFA Euro 2012 match between England and France ( /06/2012) and the match between England and Ukraine (19.45 – /06/2012). 638,000 watched the UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich (19.00 – /05/2012) exposed to any of the gambling adverts and /or references therein. 9

British Domestic Football 10

On the shirt 11

Interviews 12

Commercial gwT8 gwT8 13

Tournaments/leagues 14

During Play 15

Children Gambling No age restrictions on many forms of gambling in UK 16+ lottery/scratch cards 63-82% year olds gamble each year (Monaghan et al 2008). 6% of adolescents in UK may be pathological gamblers (Volberg et al 2010) Incentive, reward, reinforcement, conditioning, habit, compulsion, addiction Powerful mood altering behaviour 16

Questions: Theoretical framework- social/psychological/economic/ethical What are the frequency levels of gambling promotion/references in sport? What type of content and messages? Is the promotion irresponsible/inaccurate? Are children and young people targeted by the style/content (animals, animated characters, celebrities, music [Monaghan et al 2008])? 17

References A losing bet? Alcohol and gambling: investigating parallels and shared solutions. Alcohol Concern Report 2013 available content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2015/03/A-losing-bet.pdfhttp:// content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2015/03/A-losing-bet.pdf Derevensky, J.L (2012) Teen Gambling: Understanding a growing epidemic: New York: Rowman and Littlefield publishing, inc. Derevensky, J., Sklar, A., Gupta, R., Messerlian, C., Laroche, M., & Mansour, S. (2007). The effects of gambling advertisements on child and adolescent gambling attitudes and behaviors. Report for Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture. Monaghan, S., Derevensky, J. and Sklar, A. (2008) Impact of gambling advertisements and marketing on children and adolescents: Policy recommendations to minimise harm.Journal of Gambling Issues, 22, Orford, J. (2010) An Unsafe Bet? The dangerous rise of gambling and the debate we should be having. Chichester. Wiley-Blackwell Potenza, M.N., Fiellin, D.A., Heninger, G.R., Rounsaville, C.M., and Mazure, C.M. (2002) Gambling: An addictive behaviour with health and primary care implications. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 17, >. Volberg, R. A., Gupta, R., Griffiths, M.D., Ólason, D.T., and Delfabbro, P. (2020) An international perspective on youth gambling prevalence studies. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 22,