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West Ham sponsor gets stay of execution

The Government has refused to comment on a report claiming the upcoming review of gambling legislation will see plans dropped for a ban on football clubs having betting firms as shirt sponsors.

It had been previously suggested that ministers would include the recommendations in a White Paper which will be published in the coming weeks.

A report in The Times said proposals to prohibit gambling companies from shirt sponsorship were set to be rejected in favour of reaching a voluntary agreement with Premier League clubs while also keeping the option of legislation in reserve.

The plans had been tabled to tackle the issue of gambling addiction which has affected a number of high-profile players and also legions of fans across the country.

West Ham has been sponsored by Betway for several years. The Hammers signed a six-year, £60 million deal with the betting company in 2019.

Now it appears the contract can be honoured until at least 2025 at the tune of £10m per season.

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

3 comments on “West Ham sponsor gets stay of execution

  1. So it should be too. What on earth is wrong with this tory government? You won’t get addicted from a shirt advertising a bookie or anything it’s either you want to bet or drink and take achohol or eat chocolates till your fat or you don’t. The decision is everyone’s choice and won’t make one iota difference what’s advertised on a shirt or poster .

    • I worked in the gaming industry and have friends and family that have died from alcohol and drug addiction as well as others that have for the time being beaten it. In some people once it gets to the point of addiction it can be a physical compulsion that drives the behaviour, it is impossible to make them change it is only when they have a fierce inner determination to change that it becomes possible and even then they often fall off the wagon a few times before being successful, from that moment on it is one day at a time.

      How gambling addiction works is quite a blunt but effective tool, in many cases lets say a fruit machine as an example, the machine is programmed to pay out a certain percentage of what is put in it. It then has a random way in providing those payouts, what happens when it does is that in the case of a jackpot loads of lights start flashing and it pays out all the money which is a noise, there is also a kinesthetic response to collecting the coins, these experiences trigger chemical reactions in the body, release of things like, dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, which is like being under the influence of drugs that are produced naturally as a stimulus to the event.

      When that happens repeatedly a pattern establishes and the mind and body know that because they know the machine has to pay out at some point, which is where the random aspect kicks in, if they keep playing eventually they will get those good feelings again so it becomes positively reinforced through repetition and muscle memory and then it becomes gradually harder to break.

      If you look at golf as another example, you hit the ball a few times to gradually smaller targets and at the end of it have to try and get the ball in a tiny target the hole, if you are anything like me, you don’t get that rewarding feeling often of chipping in or sinking a long putt but when you do it feels great, the same principle applies if you keep playing long enough eventually the good feelings come back and you are hooked.

  2. It was the same with tobacco and alcohol. But we still see Heineken everywhere.

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