As commented on earlier this week by the Gambling Commission (“GC”) in its blog post, today sees the introduction of the requirement for online gambling operators to introduce what it describes as “light-touch” financial vulnerability checks and also the introduction of a pilot scheme on additional financial risk assessments for the largest online gambling operators. … Continue Reading
Last month, both the English football industry and British horseracing industry published codes of conduct which address sponsorship arrangements between stakeholders in each of those sports and betting companies. These codes of conduct have been prepared following the 2020 Gambling Act 2005 Review, and the subsequent release of the White Paper ‘High Stakes: Gambling Reform … Continue Reading
As the attention of the sporting world is poised to focus on the next edition of the Olympic Games in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken the opportunity to announce its partnership with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games 2025 in the Kingdom of … Continue Reading
As we’re gearing up for an exciting summer of sport, the attention of many football fans will be drawn to the kick-off of the UEFA Euro 2024 Football Championships in Germany. Many businesses will be looking to take advantage of the hype and interest in the tournament, particularly if England can progress deep into the … Continue Reading
Our dedicated Women’s Sport Group hosted its inaugural Women’s Sport Symposium on 29 February 2024 to discuss key issues across the women’s sporting landscape. Amongst other topics, a panel of key figures and experts, which was chaired by Sarah Butler (Founder of Sports Business Connected), discussed the pertinent issue of the commercialisation of women’s sports … Continue Reading
Introduction and Background In its statement published at the end of last year regarding the disciplinary action taken against Alexey Shyshko, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) pronounced that Shyshko’s actions had “tarnished the reputation of esports as a whole” and “threatened the very foundation of fair competition in esports”.[1] ESIC’s public statement accompanied a lifetime … Continue Reading
In the wake of the announcement by the English Premier League (EPL) of the “largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK”[1] at the end of last year, this article considers key takeaways, as well as how this latest EPL deal compares to previous deals and those of other major international sports leagues.… Continue Reading
The Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has issued its first ruling under the new rules that prohibit gambling ads with “strong appeal” to under-18s, providing a useful example as to how the new rules will be applied. Updated Gambling Ad Rules As covered in more detail in a previous article for this blog, on 1 October … Continue Reading
Following on from the growing popularity and success of the Women’s Super League and the great form of the England’s Women’s Team, there is a real sense of anticipation and excitement ahead of the UEFA Women’s European Championship finals, to be kicked off this Wednesday by England’s Lionesses versus Austria. In late April, the UK … Continue Reading
As reported in our previous article published in 2019, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) have been focussing for some time on protecting children and young persons through their regulation of gambling advertising. Under the current rules, gambling ads are prohibited only if they appeal ‘particularly’ to under-18s, which CAP considers means if an ad … Continue Reading
Scale of the piracy problem The threats posed to the funding of sport by media rights piracy is nothing new. However, as recognised by the European Parliament in its resolution published 19 May 2021, developments in digital technology and the proliferation of access to digital content (in particular through IPTV) have, in turn, increased the … Continue Reading
