Sports and Health

 Sports Betting

Welcome to the Chris Farnell blog. Sports gambling has a long history in the UK and was first legalised by the Betting and Gaming Act 1960. It is estimated to generate £15 billion in annual revenues and is growing at a rate of up to 8% per year. However, following increased media and parliamentary scrutiny in recent years, with heightened public awareness of issues such as gambling addiction, the industry now faces potentially drastic legislative or regulatory interference.

The Conservative Party’s 2019 UK election manifesto promised to “take action to tackle gambling addiction” and made a commitment to review the Gambling Act. With a view to reducing gambling harm, a House of Lords Select Committee report (the HL Report) urged the Government to enact over 50 recommendations before commencing the upcoming Review. Once the Government’s response, required by the end of September, is received, the House of Lords is expected to debate the HL Report, although the timeframe for such debate has not been fixed. 

Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission has been increasingly flexing its enforcement powers, issuing its record fine by some distance of £11.6m to Betway for accepting stolen money from high-spending and potentially addicted ‘VIP’ customers. At the same time, the Gambling Commission has received criticism for its failure to revoke Betway’s licence.

It is anticipated that one of the most likely measures to be introduced by the Review is the gradual prohibition of advertising by betting operators on sports kits and at sports grounds. Perhaps in anticipation of the Review, and a potential ban, betting companies have already come up with novel ways of reacting to a changing public attitude towards sponsorship. 

At this crossroads in the relationship between the sports and gambling industries, companies may weigh up their odds by reflecting on the diverse reactions to imaginative approaches to sports sponsorship. However, in the face of heightened media attention on issues surrounding gambling harm, reflected in increased parliamentary scrutiny of the relationship between gambling and sports, the odds are stacked in favour of a legislative and regulatory overhaul. This could well lead to tighter controls in the UK sports betting industry, particularly in relation to sports sponsorship and advertising.

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Anti-Doping

Welcome to the Chris Farnell Lawyer blog. Following the approval of the new World Anti-Doping Authority Code (“WADA Code”) in November 2019, FIFA has revised the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations.FIFA has published the final version of its Anti-Doping Rules (“ADR”) which comes into force on 1 January 2021. This announcement follows the consultation and approval of the new World Anti-Doping Code (“Code”) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) which took place in November 2019. It incorporated further measures in an attempt to ‘address the challenges in the fight against doping in football worldwide’ which will no doubt be well received by member association countries and stakeholders across the world.  

Key changes are: A player will now be considered to be “in-competition” from 23:59 on the day before a match in which the player is scheduled to participate through to the end of that match (including the sample collection process relating to the match).

The FIFA ADR introduces the concept of “protected persons” (players or other persons who are minors and/or who do not have any experience of international competitions) and “recreational players” (players who have not played at the international or national level for the last five years).

Players or other persons confronted with a potential anti-doping rule violation shall be guaranteed the right to a fair hearing before an impartial and independent hearing panel.

Failure by players, player support personnel, or other persons to cooperate during FIFA’s investigation of an anti-doping rule violation or offensive conduct towards FIFA Doping Control Officers during a doping control will be punished according to the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

Substances of abuse are prohibited substances that are abused in society outside the context of sport. If a player is found to have taken such a substance, they will be banned from playing for three months

To assist with the implementation and harmonisation, FIFA has confirmed it shall arrange a series of webinars with member associations to identify and highlight the key changes. 

In summary, these are welcome and necessary changes to the ADR. They take account of the changing landscape of doping in sport and signal a move away from a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Chris Farnell is committed to providing the best quality legal advice and has worked with some of the best in the sports industry. For further information on how IPS Law can help, please visit the IPS Law website here. Read more about Chris Farnell online here. Alternatively, you can also follow Chris Farnell Charlton on Linkedin here. 

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