There have been VAR reviews that took longer than it did for gambling firms to wilt in the heat of widespread fury at their exclusive deal to broadcast dozens of FA Cup games online.
On Thursday morning, MPs lined up in the House of Commons to rage against the “shameful” arrangement. They warned that gambling addicts would be coaxed back into an ugly habit via the beautiful game. Alternatively, fans with the potential to develop a problem might be lured into betting for the first time.
Shortly afterwards, the five firms who had struck the deal with the Football Association in the first place volunteered to waive their exclusivity. This frees up English football’s governing body to stream the same Cup ties on its own website.
As it happened, the betting firms said, they hadn’t even sought sole rights to show those games in the first place. That claim should be taken with a pinch of salt. Owning broadcast access to FA Cup games must have been seen as a money-spinner, or the deal wouldn’t have been worth doing.
It meant that fans who wanted to see their team play in the world’s oldest football competition had to open a betting account – and deposit money in it – to do so. With the influx of website traffic came the opportunity to bring in longer-term customers, or steal them from rival firms who were not showing the football.
Forfeiting exclusivity means these firms will lose out on most, if not all, of those benefits. Why would fans go through the hassle of opening a betting account when they can watch the game on the FA’s homepage?
According to senior sources in the gambling industry, the firms involved – Bet365, Flutter, William Hill, GVC and Kindred Group – have effectively agreed to write off the cost and chalk this one up to experience.
The reason for their show of magnanimity is that there is far more at stake than a few FA Cup ties. The government committed itself in the Conservative election manifesto to reviewing the Gambling Act, drawn up in 2005 under Tony Blair’s Labour government. It was this piece of legislation that led, among other things, to a boom in gambling adverts attached to televised sport.
In the chamber on Thursday morning, MPs from all parties demanded that the planned review of the Act be accelerated. With the possible exception of reliable gambling advocate Shipley MP Philip Davies, who rose to defend the industry, it’s unlikely that many of them are panting for looser ties on betting firms.
New legislation could clip the industry’s wings severely. Late last year a cross-party group of MPs proposed a bevy of reforms, the most eye-catching a £2 limit on online casino-style slot games.
That would bring these roulette-style games into line with their real-world cousins, fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which were effectively killed off by the same stake restriction imposed in April last year.
The day after the Guardian revealed details of the report, investors staged a major sell-off of gambling stocks, chipping £1bn off the value of the UK industry. A few weeks later, after another Guardian exposé, this time about the extent of so-called VIP schemes, sent shares tumbling again.
In other words, sharp-suited investors in the City – who are handsomely rewarded to get these things right, at least most of the time – think the gambling industry could emerge from a regulatory shake-up a lot less profitable than it is now.
Viewed through that prism, a grand gesture to waive FA Cup broadcast exclusivity looks like short-term financial pain for long-term reputation and regulatory gain. It’s a shrewd move, co-ordinated through the industry’s new trade body, the Betting & Gaming Council.
The organisation, set up last year, has been seeking to heal a schism among the industry’s major players. Some want to come out swinging against advocates of stronger regulation, whereas others believe the industry must move swiftly and comprehensively to prove that enough is being done to address problem gambling.
This time, firms with differing opinions have come together to offer a collective olive branch. But there are much bigger fights ahead and that strategic rift could well open again. For now, it should come as no surprise that the betting industry has chosen to keep its powder dry.
GamCare (gamcare.org.uk, helpline: 0808 8020 133) offers free information, support and counselling for problem gamblers in the UK
