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Betting companies will not be allowed to stream live FA Cup matches when the Football Association next sells TV rights, according to a UK media report.
The Football Association (FA), which oversees football competitions in England, will forbid live matches to be streamed by betting companies in its next rounds of rights bidding in 2024, according to The Times newspaper.
The move follows complaints about fans having to open gambling accounts to watch some games that were not otherwise televised.
The FA does not sell FA Cup streaming rights directly, but it sold global betting rights to marketing company IMG for a reported $4m (£2.9m) annually.
The controversy over streaming arose after complaints that some matches could only be viewed through betting company websites.
The Betting and Gaming Council, the industry trade group, has said that its members offered to end streaming rights to FA Cup games, saying that its members did not seek exclusive arrangements to view matches.
The FA told The Times that betting companies acquired the rights to stream matches from IMG from the start of the 2018-2019 season.
“This deal was agreed before we made a clear decision on the FA’s relationship with gambling companies in June 2017,” the association said.
“We will review this element of the media rights sales process ahead of tendering rights to the new cycle from the 2024/25 season onwards,” it said.
In 2017, the FA said it planned to terminate a sponsorship deal with Ladbrokes Coral Group that was reportedly worth £4m per year, following criticism of the arrangement.
Ladbrokes Coral is now part of Entain.
Also according to The Times this week, the Premier League and the English Football League have asked the minister in charge of gambling, Chris Philp, not to ban sponsorship deals with betting companies.
The leagues have argued that the financial impact of COVID-19 shutdowns should be considered along with concerns about addiction, according to the London-based newspaper.
Philp was set to have met with cricket, lawn tennis, rugby and golf association representatives on Wednesday (January 12) regarding issues relating to a planned overhaul of the 2005 Gambling Act.
