NHS lobbies against sports betting ads to prevent dilution of resources

Summary

• The national health body suspects that sports betting advertisements will raise gambling addiction
• Puts an added pressure on already strained resources in a slowing economy

The coronavirus pandemic has brought forth new kinds of challenges that would otherwise be incomprehensible during ordinary times. Take the instance of sports betting; the setting of a lockdown is perfect for an online sports betting company to make a killing. Most people in the country are currently staying home and are either in front of their television sets or before their computers. Now that television football has started sports betting, advertisements will have their maximum impact on people wanting to bet on their favourite teams. This, on the other hand, has also got the NHS (National Health Service) worried. NHS encompasses the Government funded healthcare systems in the UK. The health authority has been fighting for years to contain gambling addiction among people and feels that the current situation will see the number of addiction cases in the country skyrocketing. The NHS, which has currently employed its full might to contain the coronavirus pandemic, will not able to spare any resources to fight any increase in this menace. It is thus lobbying and making appeals to sports betting companies not to engage in reckless advertising to lure people.

Sports betting in the United Kingdom is regulated under the Gambling Act of 2006. Although considered as a recreational activity and treated accordingly, it has gone on to be criticized by many to promote immoral activity among children and vulnerable adults. Unlike traditional gambling, online gambling provides the convenience of being able to bet while sitting at home, making children and adults even more vulnerable. The rapid growth of the industry in the United Kingdom in the past few years points to the fact that more and more people in the country are getting addicted to this menace requiring heightened psychological help.

The size of the sports betting industry in the United Kingdom was around £650 million, and had a customer base of around 2.1 million in the year 2019. The most popular sports on which bets are placed in the country are football, horse racing, dog racing and tennis, though there are other sports also on which betting takes place. Sports betting in the United Kingdom has been growing at a compounded growth rate of 7 per cent.

Below are four of the most prominent companies in this industry sports betting in the United Kingdom. We look at their performance at the London Stock Exchange since the opening of the lockdown, with the prospect of people being able to bet on football events again.

William Hill Plc – (LON:WMH) William Hill Pc is a listed London based bookmaking company. The company is headquartered in Gibraltar in the Republic of Ireland and runs sports betting business across the world. Other than sports betting the company also operates online casinos, online bingo as well as online poker. The company has had its share of run in’s with the authorities as well. Several of the company’s advertisements have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for being untruthful and misleading. In 2018 the company was fined £6.2 million by the gambling commission for omissions made by the company on the anti-money laundering and problem gambling rules.

For the year 2019, the company had reported total revenue of £1.581 billion, operating profit of £147 million and a net loss of £27 million.

During the past month when the lockdown has been relaxed the shares of the company have performed well on the London stock exchange. On 18^th May 2020, the shares of the company were trading at GBX 116.80 and on 18^th June 2020 at the time of 1.34 pm GMT+1, the shares were trading at GBX 133 gaining 15 per cent in a one month period.

GVC Holdings Plc – (LON:GVC) GVC Holdings Plc is a British Gambling and sports betting company. Founded in Luxemburg in 2004 the company is headquartered in the Isle of Man and holds a licence to conduct its business in 18 countries. Some of the popular sports betting brands operated by the company are bwin, Sportingbet, Betboo, Gamebookers, VistaBet and Neds.

During the year 2019, the company earned a revenue of €3.655 billion, had an operating profit of €520 million and a net loss of €140.7 million.

Since the opening of the economy last month shares of GVC holdings have marginally underperformed on the London Stock Exchange, on 18^th May 2020 the shares of the company were trading at GBX 779.40 whereas on 18^th June 2020 at the time of 1.31 pm GMT+1, the shares of the company were trading at GBX 757.22 losing 2.6 per cent over a period of one month.

Flutter Entertainment Plc – (LON:FLTR) Flutter Entertainment Plc is a British gambling and bookmaking company. Formed in 2016 with the merger of Paddy Power and Betfair, the company is headquartered in Dublin Ireland. The company operates in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, United States and Australia and has two divisions namely retail and online. The company's operations in the United Kingdom are regulated by the gambling commission.

During the year 2019, the company was able to generate a revenue of £2.14 billion, an operating profit of £280.6 million, and a net income of £111.9 million.

Flutter Entertainment Plc has given an exemplary performance in the past one month after the phased opening of the lockdown. The shares of the company were trading at GBX 10,500 on 18^th May 2020 on the London Stock Exchange, while it traded at GBX 11095 on 18^th June 2020 at1.26 pm GMT+1 gaining 5.67 per cent in one month.

Gamesys Group Plc – (LON:GYS) Gamesys Group plc is a British online gaming company. The company is listed on the London Stock exchange and is a part of the FTSE 250 index.

During 2019 the company earned a revenue of £415.1 million, an operating profit of £35.2 million and a net income of £8.5 million.

The shares of Gamesys Group plc have performed well in the past month. On 18^th May 2020, the shares of the company were trading at GBX 832.00, and after one month on 18^th June 2020, the shares were trading at GBX 858.00 AT 1.15 pm GMT+1.