Tag: Western Europe

Clubs agree to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts, the first UK sports league to do so

Premier League clubs have collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling advertising.

The announcement follows an extensive consultation involving the League, its clubs and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the Government’s ongoing review of current gambling legislation.

The Premier League is also working with other sports on the development of a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship.

To assist clubs with their transition away from shirt-front gambling sponsorship, the collective agreement will begin at the end of the 2025/26 season.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has reported an increase in the use of safer gambling tools during Safer Gambling Week.

Taken place in October 2022, Safer Gambling Week saw 200,000 sports betting accounts set up deposit limits, an increase of 13% compared to Safer Gambling Week in the year prior, according to BGC data.

In addition, 61% of players who set a deposit limit during Safer Gambling Week did so for the first time, while the number of players using reality checks – on-screen alters showing the length of gaming time – rose by 300% during this time.

Furthermore, the BGC says Safer Gambling Week 2022 broke its previous social media records, with 30 million impressions generated on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – a 21% increase year-on-year.

Michael Dugher, Chief Executive of the BGC, said: “These new figures show Safer Gambling Week has made a huge impact and continues to be an increasingly vital platform to successfully encourage the use of safer gambling tools in the regulated industry.

“Millions of customers now use safer gambling tools including deposit limits and time outs. This is a pillar of the regulated betting and gaming industry and is in marked contrast to the unsafe, unregulated and growing online gambling black market, which has none of the safeguards strictly employed by BGC members.

“Safer Gambling Week is further evidence of the regulated industry’s determination to keep raising standards.”

Supporters of Safer Gambling Week include retired football manager Harry Redknapp and ex-Celtic striker John Hartson – it is also backed by the UK Government. Peers in Government supporting the campaign include DCMS Minister Damian Collins and Shadow DCMS Secretary Lucy Powell.

Ahead of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival in just under one week’s time, the Tote will once again showcase the value of the pool betting offering, and ensure an enhanced customer experience, both on-course and online at tote.co.uk.  

For the first time, the Tote will offer £1 Million Placepot everyday at the Cheltenham Festival. The Placepot is the Tote’s most popular bet with punters getting involved across the four days. In the last five years, Cheltenham has yielded the highest Placepot dividend of all British racecourses, returning an average of £2,361.39. In the last 10 years Cheltenham has also returned some huge Placepot dividends, including in 2019: £91,283.90. During Cheltenham, each Placepot pool will open the night before.  

The Tote’s popular Betting Tournaments will also be on offer for customers to enjoy. Daily social, competitive betting with prizes for the winners, players must opt-in to the Betting Tournament and place three or more bets totalling £10 or more to qualify for prizes. There are fixed prizes for the top three finishers each day and the top 10 profit makers will receive an invitation to take part in the £25, 000 Jumps Series Tournament Final.  

New for 2023, Tote Fantasy Pools will also be available each day of the Festival for the very first time. The Tote’s newest product, Tote Fantasy is a hybrid of the popular Ten to Follow game mixed in with elements of the popular Fantasy Football mechanics. Players are given a 10,000 Guinea budget to select one horse in each of the seven featured races, apply boosts on your fancied team members and score your way into the top 25% of players to scoop a slice of the Jackpot. The new Private leagues feature allows players to do battle with their friends as well as other players and It will only set you back £7.  

TOTE OFFERS BEST EVER VALUE ON AND OFF THE RACECOURSE   

The Tote’s commitment to ensuring the best value for customers remains one of its key priorities and following its introduction on British racecourses in November 2021, Tote Guarantee will be available to racegoers betting with the Tote direct online at tote.co.uk and on-course at Cheltenham. Tote Guarantee gives customers the best of the Tote return or the Starting Price, whichever is bigger.  

Where the Tote Win price is higher than SP, the customer will be paid at the higher price.  With Tote Guarantee in place, racegoers can have the confidence to bet on any horse with the Tote and get the Best Price Guaranteed on Win bets every time when they bet on a racecourse or at tote.co.uk.

For those who can’t make it to the racecourse, the Tote will be offering all online customers a free £1 placepot on the opening Tuesday of the Festival and the first £1 Million Placepot Pool of the week. Customers must opt-in to this promotion, then they will be credited with £1 Tote Credit to be used on Tuesday 14th March only.  Across the town and on the major train routes to Cheltenham, the Tote in association with Racing Post will be distributing complimentary copies of “Cheltenham” a pocket sized paper to inform and help racegoers with their selections throughout the week.

The Tote’s digital customers (betting on tote.co.uk, via the app or via text betting) will benefit from Tote+ (Tote Plus) which is a 10% price boost on their returns on their Win and Place bets just by betting direct and 5% across Exotics including the Placepot. At last year’s Festival, Commander Of Fleet scored at 50/1 in the Coral Cup but Tote+ paid £67.65 – that’s a 33% overpay. 

Alex Frost, UK Tote Group Chief Executive, said: “The Tote will be more competitive than ever throughout the Cheltenham Festival this year, whether you are betting on-course, online or via the Tote app. We are guaranteeing a £1 Million Placepot every day, where customers can bet small and win big on our marquee bet.  Customers betting with the Tote online last year were over £250 better off to £1 unit stake across the Win singles, and considerably more when betting on the exotics, thanks to the boosts to winnings offered by Tote Guarantee and Tote+ and these are in operation throughout the Festival as they are every day of the racing calendar. We will also be running our Tournaments across the week that customers can get involved with as well as the new Tote Fantasy game every day. With racecourses and the whole sport directly benefiting from every bet placed with the Tote, both on-course and online, there is no better place for racing fans to bet and we hope to welcome as many as possible to the Tote this Cheltenham week.” 

Finally, for those Ten to Follow players in the 2022/23 Jumps Season game, there is still time to take advantage of the transfer window to change up to two horses in their stables and be in with a chance of winning the top prize of £60,000, or one of the cash prizes down to 500^th place. Players have until 5pm on Monday 13^th March to make their changes.  

Danny Mullins ‘Road to Cheltenham’ Documentary  

Out on Friday 9^th March, Tote ambassador, Danny Mullins has given the team incredible access to his daily routine in build-up to the Cheltenham Festival and his bid to win a third successive Stayers’ on Thursday 16 March with the hotly anticipated, Flooring Porter. Head over to the Tote You Tube channel to watch this fascinating 45-minute documentary.