Football teams should 'think seriously' when agreeing gambling sponsorships, says NHS Chief Executive
Amanda Pritchard said that the NHS has seen a "really significant" increase in demand for its gambling addiction service
The Chief Executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, has said that football teams should "think seriously" about their responsibilities to fans when accepting shirt sponsorships from gambling firms.
A record 1,389 patients were referred for help in relation to gambling last year.
Amanda Pritchard told BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that children are seeing messages "every day" that gambling is "OK".
She said: "I think actually would be really great to see the gambling industry and also organisations like football clubs really think seriously about their responsibilities here too.
"Back in 1948 when the NHS was founded you had to go to a bookie shop to place a bet, now it's 24/7 on people's phones."
The Premier League announced in April that it would ban betting companies from shirts amid criticism of deals done with firms, but the ban does not come in until the 2026/27 season.
In response, the NHS is launching seven more specialist gambling clinics to offer more support.
The new clinics will be set up in Milton Keynes, Thurrock, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Blackpool, and Sheffield.
Clinics are already running in London, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, and Telford as well as a national clinic, which treats both gambling and gaming addiction in children and young people, which is based in London.
The NHS plans to treat up to 3,000 patients a year across the 15 clinics with cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, support groups and aftercare.
A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), said: "The BGC's largest members pledged an additional £100m of funding between 2019 and 2023 for research, education and treatment (RET) services to be administered by the independent charity GambleAware and we continue to support and fund existing services delivered by charities such as GamCare's 120 treatment centres, Gordon Moody and YGAMs youth outreach programmes, to ensure advice and support is free and easy to access."
They added: "Unlike the alcohol industry, which hands the NHS the bill for problems associated with alcohol, for over 20 years the betting industry has been the majority funder of research, education and treatment to tackle gambling harm and will continue to do so."
For support and advice on gambling, visit GambleAware - www.begambleaware.org