All PL commercial breaks contain betting ads

New research has found that every commercial break during Premier League games contain gambling adverts.

Research completed as part of the High Stakes documentary looked at the frequency of betting adverts in 10 games across the Premier League and Championship, and found that all 66 commercial breaks featuring at least one gambling advert.

This builds on statistics from the World Cup, that found that 62 out of 66 ad breaks from 11 ITV-broadcasted games had at least one gambling advert.

Paddy Power and Bet365 were found to be the worst offenders, with 15 and 11 adverts during the broadcast of the ten matches, which were all live on Sky Sports.

After that, the six companies that showed ten adverts across the ten games were Betfair, Betway, Coral, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet and William Hill.

You can see detailed statistics on every game analysed on the Stats section of this website, or a full breakdown below.

Reacting to these statistics, Terry White, who became homeless because of a gambling addiction, said: "(Adverts) that merely promote betting companies in general, I find acceptable.

"But the other type is the most dangerous, the in-play enticement style advert. They are very specifically targeting people to bet in that half-time window and often with enhanced odds to further dangle the carrot."

The RGA, whose members include Bet365, Paddy Power, William Hill and many others, announced in mid-November that it was to review the frequency of sports betting adverts.

And in December, it was announced that a whistle to whistle ban would come in to effect from Summer 2019, lasting from five minutes before kick off to five minutes after the final whistle for all games that start before 9pm.

Sky have also announced that, from August 2019, they will show a maximum of one gambling ad per commercial break in the build-up to live sports broadcasts.

Currently, adverts from gambling companies are not allowed on UK TV before the 9pm watershed, with the exception of live sports broadcasts.

Stats in full

The research encompassed seven Premier League and three Championship games between October 7, 2018 and November 10, 2018. The stats did not include the single advert broadcast immediately before the start of both halves, which more often than not was a betting advert.

Whilst this study found that all commercial breaks contained at least one betting advert, it also found that one in three had more than one advert.

In all, 17.1% of the 626 advert 'spots' were gambling related, the second highest category. The highest category was adverts by the broadcaster Sky (18.5% - including Sky Sports, Sky Mobile and Sky TV). The highest match was the Liverpool vs Manchester City game on October 7th, with 21.1% of adverts during that game being from gambling companies.

In terms of when in the programme adverts were broadcast, the most popular time was during the half-time interval, with 40 adverts being shown - an average of one every 2 minutes and 29 seconds.

There were 41 gambling adverts before the games, but they were slightly more spaced out at one every 2 minutes and 42 seconds. During the post-match analysis after the game, the 26 betting ads came every 3 minutes.

Another characteristic of live football broadcast is the single advert that is shown just seconds before each half kicks off. Results from this study show that this happened in 18 of the 20 possible opportunities, and only one of these was not a gambling company. This means that 94% of the time, the viewer begins watching the game having just seen a betting advert.

Hoardings

The electronic boards that circle the pitch are a lucrative way of advertising for many companies, and this research shows that gambling companies are also exploiting this.

There are between 15 and 97 occasions where there's a gambling advert on the hoardings during the ten matches analysed, with an average of 63.5 adverts per game. This works out as an average of one advert every 2 minutes and 12 seconds.

The worst club for gambling adverts is Cardiff, with 97 adverts at a rate of one every 61 seconds, closely followed by Middlesbrough (93 ads, one every 61 seconds), Crystal Palace (89 ads, one every 64 seconds) and Huddersfield (80 ads, one every 77 seconds).

The clubs with the least amount of adverts were Chelsea (15 ads, one every 6 minutes 44 seconds) and Liverpool (28 ads, one every 4 minutes 8 seconds).

Other adverts

Away from the TV ads and the hoardings, there are other ways that gambling companies get their logos seen. The full details of individual matches are available on the Stats section of this website, but they include stadium branding, football and training kits and interview boards. Alongside this, Sky Bet are the title sponsors for the Football League. Therefore, in all three Championship games analysed, there was Sky Bet logos behind each goal, and on the sleeves of every team.

In Scotland, the situation is worse - all three major competitions have gambling companies as their title sponsor. The Scottish Premiership is sponsored by Ladbrokes, the League Cup by Betfred and Scottish Cup by William Hill.

Kit Sponsorships and Partnerships

Another characteristic of gambling's influence on football is partnerships that the gambling firms have with the clubs.

Of the 20 Premier League clubs, nine have gambling firms as their main shirt sponsor, as well as 17/24 clubs in the Championship.

Clubs in the Premier League and Championship that have gambling sponsorships

As well as this, 19 out of the 20 Premier League clubs have a partnership with a gambling company. Crystal Palace are the only side to have a partnership with the charity GambleAware, but betting company ManBetX are their main shirt sponsor.

Former Premier League champions Leicester City have the most gambling companies as partners (5), closely followed by 'super clubs' Arsenal (4) and Tottenham Hotspur (3).

Premier League clubs' gambling partners