I was addicted to betting on football – a ban on ads on the front of shirts is nowhere near enough

theguardian.com:

I n the depths of my gambling addiction, I hit a moment when I vowed to never gamble again and closed all my betting accounts. But then as I watched Match of the Day that evening, a new company was advertised in the hoardings, and I was straight back online placing a bet.

In fact, it was the wall-to-wall advertising around football that first drew me in at 16. It started at the bookies, but after signing up with the big brands online, I was soon sent daily “free spin” offers for the even more addictive online slots and casino games. When I started really losing, I was made a ”VIP customer” where – still on minimum wage – I was sent free Premier League tickets and other gifts. Over the next 12 years I lost every penny I could scrape together. But the money wasn’t even the biggest problem. Gambling turned a happy, bright and motivated young person into a broken, depressed and hopeless 28-year-old wreck. They didn’t show me that on the glossy adverts.

For the past five years I’ve been in recovery, and I’ve made it my mission to campaign to end gambling advertising in football. And this week’s news that Premier League clubs have agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of shirts brings up mixed feelings.

The front of a Premier League shirt is the ultimate advertising space, seen by billions of people around the world, and worn by millions more. This allows gambling companies associated with immense social damage – with an estimated 1.44 million people addicted in the UK, and up to 496 yearly suicides in England alone – to become household names, completely normalising them. West Ham’s sponsor Betway, for instance, gets regular airtime via football shirts not just at matches, but also on the hit US comedy-drama