The cross-party All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform (APPG on Gambling Reform) has publicly backed a petition from the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA). The coalition urges the UK government to remove gambling advertising from football. The petition is being delivered to 10 Downing Street.
The move follows meetings the group held on Wednesday. They brought together MPs, peers, researchers and campaigners, including representatives of CEGA and Clean Up Gambling, as well as former footballers. Participants discussed new data and possible measures.
The petition calls for protecting young fans from betting imagery and sponsorship during matches.
The initiative coincided with a report from the House of Lords Communications Committee. The committee recommended a full ban on gambling advertising and said there is convincing evidence linking advertising to rising engagement and harm. In its assessment, voluntary measures have not reduced the industry's presence in sport. The report quotes Matt Gaskell: self-regulation has not noticeably reduced the overall reach of advertising in live sports broadcasts.
Earlier this year, the APPG and the Peers for Gambling Reform group published their own report. It proposed banning gambling advertising before 21:00 and banning sponsorship in sport. In the parliamentary debates that followed, Labour's Alex Ballinger cited research showing thousands of advertising messages during a single Premier League weekend. Conservative Charlie Dewhurst reminded that gambling revenue matters to sport and broadcasters, and warned that strict restrictions could push customers toward unlicensed overseas operators.
There is no government decision on the petition yet. No timeline or measures have been named in published reports.
