Tranmere Rovers have turned down a big payday with the club rejecting betting advertising ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup.
Rovers are a club that have historically campaigned against betting sponsorship in football. In 2020, the club set up a team to combat gambling. It included Chairman Mark Palios and then captain Scott Davies.
Fast forward two years and the club are making another stand against the rise in online gambling in football.
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With the rare occurrence of having a match broadcast on national television, with Wednesday’s game against the Magpies being shown on Sky Sports, the club have decided not to allow any betting sponsors to be shown.
Vice-Chairperson Nicola Palios told the ECHO that the club turned down a big offer, in a move that reaffirms the community-first stance of Rovers.
She said: “Times are not easy financially for anyone and from a purely economic standpoint it might have been tempting to accept an offer of many thousands of pounds to allow betting adverts at the ground for Wednesday’s game.
“We have taken a stance against advertising gambling in football because we have seen up close the damage that it can do and this was one of those times when you have to stand up for what you believe in.”
The game will draw a huge audience, far further than Merseyside, with the national and international broadcast of the match.
Palios said: “Wednesday’s game will be watched around the world on TV, and we felt we had a moral responsibility not to allow a great occasion to become a platform for others to develop a gambling habit that can lead to debt, relationship break-ups and even suicide.
“One person a day commits suicide as a result of problem gambling in the UK - that’s not something we wanted on our conscience. “
Newcastle United, Rovers’ opponent for the cup tie on Wednesday, have a betting company as their shirt sponsor.
Palios added on Twitter, that the club can and will do whatever they can, regardless of what others do.
She added: “We can only control what we can control but we will take a stand for what we think is right.”
The club could probably have done with an extra influx of cash. After Saturday’s loss against Newport County, manager Micky Mellon claimed that the team didn’t funds to splash on additions to the squad.
He said: “We have to cut our cloth accordingly, we haven’t got a lot of cash to throw around. Sometimes the money from these cup ties just helps the club move forward instead of throwing it into trying to improve the squad.”
Rovers will still be set for a boost to the bank balance with the cup revenue, TV broadcast payment and a huge attendance at Prenton Park on Wednesday.
At the time of writing, more than 10,000 tickets are already sold for the match, with Rovers also refusing to hike their ticket prices for the game despite playing Premier League opposition.
Tickets are available to buy for £15 for adults and £10 for concessions. The game against Newcastle kicks off at 7.45pm on Wednesday night.
