Richmond FC turns its back on sports betting sponsorship

Australian football league club Richmond FC is the latest to adopt a responsible gambling charter that rebuffs commercial sports betting partnerships.

Richmond FC becomes the seventh AFL Victoria football club to opt-in to the charter despite having enjoyed sponsorships with Luxbet and Sportsbetin the past, just three clubs in Victoria currently remain open to commercial opportunities from sports betting companies.

Brendon Gale, chief executive of Richmond FC cited the “troubling pervasive nature” of sports betting as a key decider but supports owning a poker machine venue.

“Firstly, this is about promoting responsible gambling and gambling is a legitimate enterprise whether its poker machines or gambling houses people make a conscious choice to go into a venue and gamble where the nature of sports betting is that it is pervasive and it is a very broad instrument. As football clubs we have enormous traction in the community to effect change,” Gale said in a media statement.

“These steps taken by powerhouse clubs like Richmond are important in dealing with the normalisation of betting amongst particularly our kids,” Jane Garrett, Victorian Gaming Minister said in support of the Clubs decision.