Craic the whip

This week, the Irish Examinerbrought us a thought-provoking column from Jack Anderson, which suggested the odds were “stacked against” Ireland’s new gambling regulator in its battle against problem gambling.

After the regulator announced its seven new members earlier this month, Anderson looked a little closer at the list and found much to celebrate.

The membership, he argued, reflects the priorities of the authority, which are to ensure that gambling in Ireland is regulated via a licensing system, and to set up safeguards to address problem gambling.

With former government officials including some with senior regulatory and compliance experience, a barrister with licensing expertise, and a highly respected addiction psychologist on board, the authority is well-placed to tackle its stated objectives, he said.

Another member, former chair and director of the Gaming & Leisure Association of Ireland David Hickson, will also help to put forward an industry voice on relevant matters.

However, “it is noteworthy that no one on the authority has any executive experience in a sports gambling company — neither does the CEO — especially the remote, online markets, where there has been significant recent growth in Ireland,” Anderson writes.

“It’s possible that this lack of experience contributed to the GRAI CEO’s rather naïve attempt […] to restrict incidental betting advertising (on jerseys, advertising hoardings etc) during the coverage of live sporting events. 

“In a season where 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs have a gambling company as their front-of-shirt sponsor, the regulator’s proposal was, in effect, that the broadcasting of the Premier League in Ireland would have to be shirtless.”

Popular as that idea may be among some football fans, it doesn’t sound particularly likely, and here Anderson runs into one principal point of contention between the industry and Ireland’s proposed regulations.

The issue is not always an easy one to unravel and will inevitably lead to compromise on both sides. 

In summary, Anderson writes that the regulator will need to find a middle ground if it is to succeed in its stated objectives.

“Squeeze the regulatory vice too tight and punters may turn to the illegal or black markets where both consumer protection and tax revenue (and likely your stake) will be lost. Don’t squeeze at all and the industry self-regulates,” he concludes.

One thing’s for sure; Ireland’s newly established regulator is unlikely to get absolutely everything perfectly right. After all, what are the odds of that?

There’s something on your shirt

Elsewhere, The Guardianbrought us its latest analysis on an increasingly controversial issue, that of gambling sector sports sponsorships.

“The prevalence of gambling money in European football has been laid bare,” the article reported, as it revealed that two-thirds of all teams across Europe’s top 31 divisions hold a sponsorship deal with at least one gambling firm.

Among the main findings of newly published research on the matter are that 296 out of 442 European clubs have at least one betting partner this season, with 145 of those including front-of-shirt sponsorships.

Meanwhile in countries such as Belgium and Italy, where betting operator logos are banned from the fronts of shirts, some companies work around the rules by “displaying logos of gambling companies’ charitable foundations or news/entertainment websites.”

Leagues themselves are not immune to the charms of gambling sector money either, with 14 out of the 31 analysed relying on a gambling firm as their title sponsor.

The article also reports that 27 clubs across Europe’s top five leagues are partnered with betting companies targeting customers in Asia.

The phenomenon is well-known and much discussed in England’s Premier League, for example, while the research used here helps to demonstrate the scale of the issue across the rest of Europe.

“Every side in the Dutch Eredivisie has a betting partner or sponsor. Portugal, Greece and Germany are also prominent and lucrative markets, the research found.

“But even in smaller markets there is widespread advertising, with the majority of top-flight sides in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria wearing betting logos on their shirts.”

While the Premier League will see changes incoming as front-of-shirt sponsorships will be dropped for the 2026-27 season, the article opens up an interesting question: should the changes now be expected to spread across the rest of Europe?

If so, betting companies will need to find other, possibly more creative ways of getting their names out there.

Start spreading the news

Finally, Business Insiderrevealed this week that two of its journalists recently “went to a gambling conference to check the vibes in the industry”.

“We recently attended NEXT.io’sNext Summit in New York to check the vibes from its roughly 1,000 gambling industry investors, entrepreneurs, and executives,” they reported.

As for the key takeaways from the show, they added: “this year, tensions between the big betting companies and disruptors surfaced on panels and in talks among insiders.”

According to the article, the conference brought about lively discussion of verticals like prediction markets, novel fantasy games and sweepstakes, which are all gaining significant traction in the US market.

“In some cases, that means they can reach a wider audience, creating a threat — or opportunity — for gambling companies,” the article said.

For those who were unfortunate enough to miss the Summit, this piece comes recommended to see what the main themes that emerged at the conference were — from new verticals to the use of AI, regulatory pushback to the crypto renaissance, and just about all of the hottest industry topics in between.

Perhaps non-attending readers will think twice before missing the event again next year.