⚽️ Premier League Fans in the UK Bombarded with Gambling Ads

Good morning. Crossing the Pond HQ is not vice-obsessed, but the biggest stories of the day involve touchy issues. We are neutral on these questions. Adults should be able to be adults. Still, the questions are compelling. We will lay out the quandaries and let you decide what you think.

In the email today:

American sports fans know that DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet and many other sports betting firms overwhelm NFL broadcasts with advertising. Apparently, though, even the onslaught in America during NFL games is amateur hour compared to what goes on in the UK.

• A study conducted by the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research during the opening weekend of the latest Premier League season revealed that football fans received 11,000 gambling-related messages.

• Despite the Premier League's plan to ban gambling firms from sponsoring the front of players' shirts starting in 2025, the study suggests that this may not effectively reduce the prevalence of gambling messages in football due to the saturation of such content.

• Key concerns identified in the study include:

  • The sheer volume of gambling messages.

  • Social media content that lacks clear labeling as advertisements.

  • Insufficient promotion of safer gambling practices.

• During the opening weekend of the season, six live matches on TV featured 6,966 gambling messages, with only a fifth of them including safer gambling support.

• Social media platforms displayed 1,902 gambling ads, reaching 34 million views during the same period.

• Sky Sports News featured 600 gambling messages in just two hours of broadcasting, and TalkSport included at least one gambling ad during every commercial break.

Our take: Everything old is new again. In America, cigarettes used to be advertised on television and scientists said they were safe. That obviously changed. Americans would do well to heed what this study notes — the prevalence of gambling ads in the UK cannot possibly be good for consumers. For that matter, American lawmakers should definitely be paying attention.

2) 🥼 Questions Persist About Premier League Players’ Use of Smokeless Tobacco to Enhance Performance

“If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” Professional sports leagues across the world have cracked way down on the use of illegal substances by athletes to gain any advantage they can. Legal substances, though, are another matter entirely. Have you ever heard of snus? We hadn’t, either.

• The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is supporting a 12-month study on the increasing use of snus, a smokeless nicotine product, within football.

• Premier League players have been observed using snus on their upper lip, particularly while on the substitutes' bench. Notably, former England striker and Leicester City Premier League champion Jamie Vardy was pictured with a tin of snus during Euro 2016.

• Snus is intended to serve as both a stimulant and a cigarette replacement. However, it is associated with health risks, including heart conditions, oral diseases, and (over time) reduced athletic performance.

• Many Premier League clubs have taken measures to educate their players about the negative effects of snus and encourage them to cease use.

• The PFA is urging its members to participate in the study, which is led by Loughborough University. The study will involve player interviews and surveys to better understand the extent and impact of snus use within football.

Our take: There are no free rides. It is not surprising that use of a product like this could provide short term gain and long term pain. Except, try telling a 23-year-old Premier League player on the fringe of the starting 11 at his club not to use snus to jump-start his engine during a substitute appearance. Unless snus are outlawed, they’re probably here to stay.

3) ❌ Tweet of the Day: WHO’S A GOOD BOY?

Win? In fairness, “Strong Second in the League” isn’t much of a name for a dog.

4) 🗳️ When They Qualify, Do You Follow Your Favorite EPL Teams in European Play?

5) 🔗 Links Roundup:

• 😆 Pep Guardiola couldn’t stifle a giggle at the idea that Manchester United would challenge Manchester City for this year’s league title.

• 🏆️ Manchester City picked up where they left off in defense of their Champions League crown.

•  ⬆️ Meanwhile, Newcastle’s Champions League opener, considering they got a point at AC Milan, was pretty good.

• 👀 Manchester United caught a stray from former Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane about his move to Bayern Munich.

• 📷️ Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur) and Bakayo Saka (Arsenal) had pretty good seats for London Fashion Week.

The newsletter today was written by Phil Keidel. Follow Phil on X @philkeidel.

Thanks for reading!