The Essendon Football Club has made the surprising decision to end all commercial partnerships with gambling companies.
“This decision wasn’t made lightly, particularly with the revenue a wagering partner can deliver,” Essendon Chief Executive Xavier Campbell said.
“We have a fantastic group of commercial partners and we will be directing our energy to nurturing these existing relationships, as well as establishing new partnerships with like-minded companies.”
The decision comes after startling revelations this week by former Hawthorn Hawks player Brent Guerra that the reigning premiers had a deep-rooted gambling problem in the club.
Guerra confessed to a four-year gambling addiction where he lost over $400,00 and said he was part of a wider issue at Hawthorn.
The club claims this issue has since been taken care of.
Essendon, who’ve had a difficult 2015 with poor on-field performances and a supplements saga that continues to haunt them, say the club has an obligation to mitigate the damage gambling has done to the Australian sporting landscape.
“We certainly respect the right of betting agencies to advertise in sport,” Campbell said.
“But as an industry we need to proactively monitor the way this message is delivered particularly given many of our fans are children.
“In forming this decision we also took into consideration the feeling of our membership base who have expressed a sense of concern.”
Despite the club’s issues, it is well placed to absorb the potential financial losses from the decision, delivering record commercial revenues this season and boasting membership numbers nearing the 60,000 mark.
It is not known yet whether this policy will include getting rid of the pokies at club-owned venues, which brought in more than $10 million in 2013.
Credit to Essendon for ending commercial partnerships with betting and wagering agencies.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) June 25, 2015
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