Villa enter the gambling sunset with one last 'sweet' deal

It is a huge day for Aston Villa off of the pitch - once again.

A new kit, a new sponsor, a new badge. That's a lot to talk about, and this newsletter is already wordy, as is.

The home kit?

I wanted to write so much more about it. It's fine, you'll hate it. You'll love it when we lift the FA Cup in it.

My highlight? The detailing.

But as far as kits go, it's a kit. Very akin to a West Midlands Village kit though. Screams of the 2016 training gear echo in my mind.

So, the sponsor? What do you get when you cross FFP, the need to compete financially, the obstacles to 'financial doping' and gambling?

You get Villa signing a multi-year deal with BK8.

I took a screenshot of Villa's twitter page  an hour after the BK8 annoucement at 10am UK time.

It's safe to say, it blew up - and not in a good way. Villa are getting slammed for this.

Firstly, Premier League clubs agreed in April to put an end to gambling shirt sponsorships after the conclusion of the 25-26 season. That deadline exists for deals to end, not be crammed into. Villa have done the latter, they aren't alone.

Secondly, the firm who run BK8 in the UK (TGP Europe) were found guilty of anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failures over a two-year period.

Those failures?

• Allowing customers to continue to gamble after hitting multiple safer gambling alerts without intervention
• Relying on automated, as opposed to human, interactions when customers hit safer gambling alerts
• Not assessing the effectiveness of these interactions or whether additional steps were required such as a telephone interaction
• Not having a money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment which adequately addressed risks, such as customers providing false or stolen identification documentation and risks linked to complex or unusually large transactions
• Not adequately considering and mitigating the money laundering risks posed by their business-to-business relationships
• Having ineffective policies and procedures in relation to due diligence undertaken prior to white label agreements.

Oh and this sanction was actioned by the Gambling Commission just four months ago.

Lovely bedfellows.

But what about BK8 themselves? Strap yourself in for a little recap of the Norwich debacle.

The quick version

Two years ago, Norwich City were crucified for signing up to a partnership with an Eastern gambling firm. Their bizarre marketing. Accusations of sexism, lack of morals and genuine hurt flew across social media. Within days, Norwich backed down. The firm themselves said their marketing sucked and they will need to rethink the entire thing. A partner of BK8 had apparently royally cocked up re: marketing, they went away, BK8 put in tighter rules.

Cut to 2023. A 'cleaned up' BK8 is now Aston Villa's front of shirt sponsor.

The full version

However, that doesn't discount what BK8 did. No matter what occurred, they waltzed onto the shirt of a Premier League club, with full knowledge of their existing promotional materials.

It's a story of neglect. On both fronts.

Norwich City failed to spot BK8's marketing materials (won't be sharing that on the newsletter, but it is easy to find). BK8 failed to control the partnership the created the controversial materials.

That, according to the chief Norwich City reporter for the Pink'Un, Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News - Connor Southwell, resulted in one of the 'darkest off pitch days' in Norwich City's recent history.

This is Connor's piece from the time:

Connor Southwell: BK8 saga shows the murky water of football sponsors

Football sponsorships in the modern era are often a question of money over morals.

Eastern Daily PressConnor Southwell

This is what he said to me after I asked him for his reflection on that saga:

‘The BK8 saga was one of the darkest off pitch days in Norwich City’s recent history.

It was a decision to put a price tag on morals and left a lot of the female supporters incensed and isolated. Given that Norwich purport to be a family club that serves its community, the criticism and publicity of that decision was exposed more than would be the case at most clubs.

The idea of their women’s team, for example, wearing the logo of a company that viewed them as sexual entities to help sell their brand domestically was grim. For those who say ‘I don’t care’, maybe you would if your daughter was viewed in that way. Or your partner was put off from feeling included in the club they love. In the end, the club recognised that. It threw away millions of pounds in order to protect its reputation.

That BK8, a white-collar company that don’t trade in the UK, have returned front and centre to a Premier League football club not only leaves a sour taste in the mouth - but displays the issues that football has with morality when a few stacks of pound notes are thrown in their direction.’

Images of Norwich's dealing with BK8 are common in the responses to Villa's post announcing a deal with the cleaned up company. A company that is proud to invest in grassroots football, proud to highlight leading women's footballers. A company that will offer a portion of every third shirt sold to a charitable endeavour related to Aston Villa.

After BK8 hooked up with Huddersfield, their European Managing Director, Michael Gatt emphasised the changes BK8 has made, saying: “We are absolutely delighted to have partner with Huddersfield Town as their Official Global Betting Partner and we are thrilled that they have been able to see the positive changes we have made as brand in recent months to make this possible. In fact we do have plans to work with Huddersfield in some grassroots activation in coming months.”

It's cool that BK8 are doing that, big thumbs up. Changing from soft porn to grassroots 'activations' that focus on local communities and charities is a lot better. Credit where it is due, but the sportswashing argument remains.

It doesn't change who they are though or how they make their money. The firm that through sheer ignorance, managed to blow up a Premier League sponsorship. It doesn't change that they are a gambling firm.

And good luck getting onto BK8.

White label

From W88 to BK8, the gambling firms that have sponsored Villa are not accessible in their original state in the UK. They are operated on white-label agreements, which is why TGP Europe operate the BK8 site in the UK. White-label partnerships involve a licensed operator running a gambling business using the branding of another business. Thus, you're not actually using BK8. It's just a veneer. Multiple clubs (Forest, Villa, Newcastle) are sponsored by brands that are run by TGP Europe out of this building:

It's the wild west out there, and Premier League clubs are low-hanging fruit for these brands to cycle in-and-out of.

As for their sponsorship of the Villa, it could be worse than BK8 to be fair. We could be sponsored by Theranos, or Lockheed Martin, or Brighthouse. BK8 are also making a charitable donation per third shirt bought. That in itself is good if not a little carbon offsetty. It's not Villa's fault entirely. The powers that be are forcing clubs to take deals like this to meet FFP legislation. Clubs MUST balance the balance sheet (even if it isn't actually, you know, balanced). It's just a shame that Villa have hoisted a ticket price rise alongside a controversial sponsorship - where usually, you'd expect one or the other. Not both.

If you were taking a gambling club at gunpoint, I guess you'd be happy with the one offering a token commitment to the community. But Villa aren't at gunpoint, and they do have a bit of a say here. While BK8 have (it's said) doubled Villa's commercial income in terms of primary sponsors, I want to believe that it was amongst competitive offers. I don't have the information to hand to say that though. It doesn't mean I'm not disappointed.

Outro

Personally, disappointment doesn't equal disaster. It's expected that the club will do what it can to increase commerical revenue. It's expected that a sponsor will likely be a gambling/crypto/forex partner. These are just the truths of football.

I don't think it makes you a hypocrite if you fancy buying the new shirt either - you're not perpetuating this cycle. You're not a benefactor of this money. You're not acting out.

I just think that the impact of gambling on football fans should be kept in mind.

Football is a compound issue with gambling. The environment of football is a haven for problem gambling. Male impulsivity, peer-pressure, consumption of alchohol, nicotine, class A use, having depression - happens amongst football-going crowds, and lead to the highest risk factors of problem gambling (in future) amongst young people.

In football, we have an environment that is (or should be) accessible to young people, however, we also have an environment that offers those high risk factors.

Those risk factors create gambling disorders that fund the industry. Here's a graph from the Guardian that shows the % of gambling deposits from 'VIPS' (membership schemes) compared to them as a percentage of customers.

Shocking, right? That is how these brands are funded. That is how they can pay for these sponsorships. The majority of their revenue comes from such a tiny amount of people - the problem gamblers.

The problem gamblers who fund them, with money - sometimes not their own - are then left to their own devices. That high risk factor that turned into a gambling disorder can then take lives.

From the Government's Gambling Related Harms study - updated in 2023:

We examined mental and physical health harms in 48 studies. A high quality quantitative study showed that people with gambling disorder have an increased risk of dying from any cause, in a given time period, relative to the general population. This was greater in gamblers aged between 20 and 49.

An estimated 400 suicides each year in England relate to gambling.

That in itself should be enough for gambling sponsorships to end. They do have an impact amongst an audience where the highest risk factors are present.

People within football are badly affected as well:

People have turned to drug dealing to fund gambling debts, players have been affected so badly by gambling their form (and health) suffer. Ivan Toney was slammed & banned for problem gambling - while being sponsored by Hollywood Bets as a Brentford player. Men are more likely to be problem gamblers. The most socially-deprived have the lowest gambling interaction rate and the highest levels of harmful gambling.

For those who remain in doubt, I've left a story by my friend Harry. Before I read this, almost ten years ago, I didn't care.

Now I do, and it is why I write this stuff:

The old man and the FOBT.

It wasn’t the anti-social behaviour that first made me realise this job wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the person getting an ear bitten off, or the guy shitting in a bin. It wasn’…

Harry ValeHarry Vale

And if you don't want the logo on your shirt...

Up the Villa.

Just a quick note to say thank you for your support. Last issue on Monchi (despite not calling him a racist, and saying people could be offended by blackface) was a divisive one despite toeing a line. There was a lot of bad DMs, but for every bad one there were six or seven good ones. I was flooded. I reiterate that my opinion on the matter isn't important (although I did share my opinion on his footballing credentials which is valid - take that or leave it).

In this game, some people will always take shots at you. You can't win, but I don't want to. Perhaps I already have. UTV.