Advertising ban on gambling firms

IN a statement released by the English Premier League on Thursday, April 13, it announced a total ban on advertising by gambling companies on the front of foot‐ball shirts on match days.

The statement read: “Premier League clubs have today col lectively agreed to with draw gambling sponsor ‐ship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling adver ‐tising.”

It continued: “The an nouncement follows an extensive consultation involving the League, its clubs, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as part of the Govern ‐ment’s ongoing review of current gam ‐bling legislation.

“The Premier League is also working with other sports on the development of a new code for responsible gambling spon‐sorship. To assist clubs with their transi‐tion away from shirt‐front gambling spon‐sorship, the collective agreement will begin at the end of the 2025/26 season,” it concluded.

Advertising on shirts will be allowed until the ban comes into force. Cur ‐rently, a total of eight clubs in England’s top tier have sponsorship contracts with gam ‐bling firms. These deals are reputedly worth an estimated annual income of £60 million. They will still be able to continue with advertis‐ing on the shirtsleeves and advertising hoardings around the grounds.

These eight clubs include Bournemouth, Everton, Fulham, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Southampton, and West Ham United.

The organisers of the 42nd edition of this competition immediate ‐ly took the decision to suspend the race and called for a minute’s si ‐lence in the Town Hall Square at 6.45pm in honour of the two de ‐ceased racers. Saturday saw the drivers compet ‐ing on the second and fi ‐nal day of this year’s ral ‐ly.

Adrián Barbón, the president of the Princi ‐pality, tweeted his dis ‐may at the incident, posting: the socialist Adrián Barbón, has shown on his social net ‐works his sadness at the news and has indicated that he has already con ‐tacted the mayor of Ti ‐neo, José Ramón Feito, to inquire about what happened.

“Very saddened by the news of the death of the driver Julio César Cas ‐trillo and his co ‐ driver, Francisco Javier Álvarez, during the dispute of the penultimate stage of the day Rally Villa de Ti ‐neo. My deepest condo ‐lences to their families and friends,” he posted.

He added: “I have just spoken with the mayor of Tineo, José Ramón Feito. A lot of pain with this terrible news, which leaves us all sunk. I am really sorry.”

The Principality’s Au ‐tomobile Federation al ‐ so offered its ‘immense support’ to the families and friends of the two drivers who died after the fatal accident.