US National Football League eases up on casino advertising

The National Football League in the United States has relented – a little – on its anti-gambling advertisment position, according to reports from the Associated Press news agency.

For the next two seasons the League will allow its teams to accept ads for casinos and other state-licensed gambling-related establishments…but there are conditions attached thereto:

* Adverts can appear only in game programs, on local radio broadcasts and in the upper bowl and inner concourses of stadiums.

* No employees of the NFL and its teams, including players and coaches, can endorse or appear in any advertisements for any form of gambling.

* Any entity being advertised may not have a sports book or accept or promote gambling of actual sporting events other than horse or dog racing.

* All advertisements must include a responsible gambling message.

* The advertisers must agree to contribute funds to the league’s gambling education and other related programs.

* No naming rights or programming sponsorships can be sold to casinos or gambling-related entities.

The league told its 32 clubs on Thursday that the change in policy will allow such advertising on a limited basis from casinos in their markets, and revealed that after the subject was discussed at last month’s NFL Annual Meeting, it had reviewed how other sports handle casino advertising, did fan research, analysed likely impact of recent gambling-related legislative developments and surveyed all 32 franchises.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “We remain steadfast in our opposition to the proliferation of gambling on NFL games. There is a distinction between accepting advertising in a limited fashion and gambling on the outcome of our games.”

Related and similar