Gambling and football 'a match made in hell'

Scottish clubs should travel the English Premier League successful banning betting sponsorship from the beforehand of matchday shirts, a Celtic instrumentality with a gambling addiction has said.

Lifelong protagonist Martin Paterson, 63, warned enactment is needed to tackle the "horrible" addiction.

The Premier League prohibition volition travel into unit by the extremity of the 2025-26 season.

The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) said determination were nary plans to travel suit.

It stated sponsorship was "a substance for each club" and described betting deals arsenic "a important root of income" for galore teams.

Three Scottish Premiership clubs person betting sponsors connected the beforehand of their garment - Celtic with Dafabet, Rangers with 32Red and Unibet and Dundee United with QuinnCasino.

Mr Paterson, whose calls person been backed by erstwhile archetypal curate Henry McLeish, said his addiction began with betting connected shot coupons.

He stopped gambling successful 2014 and has been campaigning against online and casino gambling since.

"Gambling summation destroys families and due to the fact that it's not a substance oregon intoxicant it's easier to hide," helium told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland.

"It's conscionable a horrible, horrible addiction."

Mr Paterson said: "I fearfulness that wealth is much important [to the clubs] alternatively than health, due to the fact that gambling is simply a intelligence wellness disorder.

"And connected a motivation ground nonrecreational athletes should not beryllium utilized arsenic billboards advertizing products that aren't harmless for everyone."

According to the latest statistic from the Scottish Public Health Observatory, astir 0.4% of Scottish adults - 18,000 radical - were classed arsenic occupation gamblers successful 2021. A further 1.5%, astir 68,000 adults, were apt to beryllium astatine hazard of mean gambling problems.

And men were importantly much apt to beryllium occupation gamblers than women, 0.7% and 0.1% respectively.

Mr Paterson said helium wanted clubs to spell adjacent further than they had successful England and expressed fears that betting firms would inactive beryllium advertised connected garment sleeves and grooming kits.

"They tin bash amended than beforehand products that aren't safe," helium said.

"Tobacco said athletics wouldn't past without their sponsorship and the gambling manufacture are utilizing the aforesaid mantra. Of people they would survive.

"But connected a motivation crushed we shouldn't beryllium promoting this worldly to kids and reasoning it's alright. It's embedded successful nine enough."

Mr McLeish, who besides played nonrecreational football, described the English Premier League determination arsenic a "small but important measurement forward".

He told Good Morning Scotland: "I americium disappointed astatine the SPFL's effect due to the fact that it seems to beryllium not tenable to reason that it's a substance for the clubs erstwhile indeed, arsenic an association, they look aft the wide interests of football.

"I deliberation we're successful a presumption successful Scotland where, forgive the pun, it's a lucifer made successful hellhole due to the fact that rather frankly the SPFL is hopeless for wealth and of people the gambling manufacture is hopeless for advertising.

"So it's not a bully determination connected the backmost of what has happened successful England."

While acknowledging Scottish shot teams are often cash-strapped, the erstwhile archetypal curate argued tobacco, intoxicant and gambling firms should person nary spot successful Scottish football.

"We dealt with tobacco, present we've got to woody with alcohol, present we've got to woody with gambling."

Mr McLeish called for a phasing retired of gambling and intoxicant sponsorship to let the SPFL and clubs to find alternate sponsors.

"I cannot judge that successful Scotland and the United Kingdom determination are not bully sponsors consenting to travel successful to the crippled if the crippled itself could beryllium made much charismatic to those peculiar sponsors."

Following the English Premier League's announcement connected gambling sponsorship, an SPFL spokesperson said: "There are nary plans for a league-wide proscription of specified deals.

"For galore SPFL clubs, sponsorship from gambling companies is simply a important root of income which helps to enactment their concern models and enables concern successful galore of the important assemblage activities which clubs undertake."

The Betting and Gaming Council, which represents the industry, welcomed the SPFL's statement.

It said the "overwhelming majority" of the 22.5 cardinal radical successful the UK who stake each period bash truthful "safely and responsibly".

The organisation added the "rate of occupation gambling remains debased by planetary standards astatine 0.3% of the UK's big colonisation - down from 0.4% the twelvemonth previous".