Gambling logos face ban from sport in blitz on betting firms

A major shake-up of gambling laws could see sports sponsorship outlawed and strict limits on how much punters can lose online.

The wide-ranging review of legislation governing the industry will be launched next week.

And the items under consideration, dubbed a ‘reformer’s shopping list’, include maximum stakes online and checks on whether players can afford their losses. 

The changes may also require new games to be tested for addictiveness before they are launched, while wronged consumers could be given the opportunity to complain to a consumer ombudsman.

Another change under consideration is a sports sponsorship ban, which may include banning firms’ logos on football club shirts. 

Campaigners have long been concerned about the impact of gambling advertising in football on children and vulnerable adults. 

More than half of clubs in the Premier League and Championship are sponsored by gambling firms.

Bookmakers are also still able to show television adverts during the build-up and post-match analysis on live televised sport.

The review will also consider concerns about the wider marketing and advertising of gambling products.

Many changes that are being considered have been raised by the Mail’s Stop the Gambling Predators campaign.

The shake-up would roll back vast swathes of Tony Blair’s 2005 Gambling Act, which has been blamed for laying the groundwork for the epidemic of gambling addiction. 

Around 400,000 people – including 55,000 children – are addicted to betting and there are two gambling-related suicides every day.

The long-awaited review could be launched with an eight-week call for evidence as soon as next week, the Guardian reported. 

The Government aims to then produce a white paper with proposals for a full public consultation by the summer, sources told the Mail.

It follows a series of high profile cases of suicide and crime in gambling. 

Earlier this year, engineer Chris Bruney, 25, killed himself hours after Playtech plied him with £400 in bonuses. 

The issue sparked the creation of a 150-strong cross-party lobby of MPs and Lords and is backed by the Prime Minister.

The industry regulator, the Gambling Commission, has already banned betting credit cards and is undergoing a review into gambling-like elements in children’s video games. 

Yesterday MPs welcomed the review’s broad scope. Carolyn Harris, of the all-party parliamentary group for gambling-related harm, said: ‘It’s time this industry was held accountable and forced to behave.’

The plans have led to a battle between campaigners and the industry. Bosses are, for example, concerned that checks on affordability, which could come into play if a gambler loses £100 in a month, will hit their profits. 

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.