PREMIER LEAGUE clubs face pressure to ditch betting sponsors after the Football Association axed its deal with Ladbrokes.
The FA’s four-year, £4m-per-year agreement with the bookmaker began only last season.
But the governing body cut its ties with Ladbrokes amid growing unease about football’s relationship with the betting industry.
The moves comes following high-profile cases of players gambling on matches and the continual threat of match-fixing.
Last season half of the 20 Premier League clubs had a betting firm as a shirt sponsor, with others having official betting partners.
The League, the richest in the world by virtue of its £8.5billion TV deals, will face criticism if its members continue to turn to the gambling industry for top-ups to their huge incomes.
Joey Barton, who was banned from football for 18 months in April after spectacularly breaking rules about betting on the game, was among those to point out the hypocrisy of football in relation to gambling.
FA chairman Greg Clarke set up a three-month review of the FA’s dual role as a guardian of the game’s integrity and an organisation accepting money from a leading bookmaker.
As a result, the FA board decided to end all sponsorships with betting firms at the end of the season just finished.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said: “We would like to thank Ladbrokes for both being a valued partner over the last year and for their professionalism and understanding about our change of policy around gambling.”
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