Rabat, Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco, January 2026. Algeria v DR Congo. The game was 0-0, when, at half-time, I received a tap on the shoulder from the row behind.
“Andy? You used to play football with my brother. I showed him a photo from my seat and he recognised you in my photo.”
The man was based in France and at the tournament to monitor any match-fixing. His life is spent investigating illegal betting patterns and bringing perpetrators to justice. He explained his job and the problem areas, the dodgy operators, criminality, links to organised crime, the scale of the problem, the monies involved and the problems around the globe.
“This is a world with no compass,” he said. “We’re trying to fight back.”
We walked away from the stadium together. He said that he can only ever touch the tip of a huge iceberg and does so because he’s paid to, but also because he feels passionately about the damage it does to sporting integrity. I was impressed by his drive and determination and the reality of his job when he observed: “The public don’t really care about financial crimes but it’s the public and society we’re protecting.”
Three days later, I took a taxi from Tangier to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave.
My driver, aged around 20, drove a battered old car and shook his head when I tried to put a seatbelt on. He asked for the fare up front so he could buy some petrol and, after asking why I was in Morocco, pulled out his phone to show me a list of British betting companies.
“Very good?” he said of a well-known British bookmaker. “Today, you choose.”
He offered a selection of games from around the world featuring teams I’d barely heard of and asked me to predict the scores of games so that he could gamble on them. I just wanted him to look at the road ahead. I politely declined and he dropped me off by the border gates.
Two chance meetings within a few days, two disparate lives that showed me a little more about the gambling industry. And it’s not like I don’t see gambling adverts everywhere, from traditional forms such as television to clickbait posts on social media platforms brought to you in association with companies few had heard of until recently.
The Athletic carries adverts from gambling companies. The fanzine I edit has taken money from them. And without that money there would have been no fanzine podcasts, since listeners were reluctant to pay for them.
I have friends who like to bet on football and friends who don’t. Some are really into it (and horses). One says he never bets on anything that can speak. Another buys a horse-racing newspaper every day, studies the form, idolises the trainers, travels miles to watch the horses train. But he doesn’t gamble, and he’s scared of horses, so he doesn’t get too close.
On Wednesday, I received a message from a medical professional, Sadi, in response to The Athletic’s story that Manchester United are set to sign a deal with Betway for sponsoring the club’s training kit.
“Disappointed United have gone with a sports gambling sponsor,” he said. “It’s an addictive disease that afflicts so many. Not a good look in my opinion. Surprised a Tier A brand like United went this route. Oh well.”
I asked around to get a sense of how other supporters felt, including a former gambling industry executive who is also a United fan.
“Was surprised, as you’d think United would be able to command good revenues from other less contentious sources,” he said.
He was speaking anonymously to protect industry relationships but also said he was surprised Betway were prepared to spend so much (the deal could be worth in excess of £18million) given the prospect of new affordability checks, which he feels will “hamper the UK regulated market and force people to the unregulated (black) market”. Though he also pointed to the attraction of the growing U.S. market, too.
“As for the moral high ground stuff on problem behaviour, that just annoys me,” he said, adding he thought football was particularly “precious” about betting. “Ninety-nine per cent of millions who bet do so free from issues. Less than one per cent fall into addiction.”
He did, though, draw a distinction between sports betting and online casino betting, where users play games of chance.
“I’ve no issue with football and sport pushing sports betting. I do have an issue when they cross market and start shoving free spins to people at midnight,” he said.
A poll on the United We Stand fanzine saw 47 per cent of fans say Manchester United should not be taking gambling adverts, while 35 per cent said it wasn’t ideal but it was no big deal. And 18 per cent were not bothered by the club taking them. A heated debate followed.
People have strong opinions on gambling and football. Some consider gambling a scourge, others feel that, from fizzy drinks to alcohol to consumer products, there are few ethically pure companies.
United have had links with gambling companies for a long time, largely as secondary sponsors. It’s entirely legal. The previous training kit sponsorship, which ended last summer, was with Tezos, a blockchain firm.
Manchester United used to have Tezos on their training kit (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
A club view has been that given football fans have long had a bet before games, they should have that bet with a legitimate partner sponsor, so some money can go to the club and be invested into players.
Despite offers, United have never accepted a betting company as a front of shirt sponsor — and won’t do so given clubs have voted not to allow them from next season. Eleven of the 20 Premier League clubs currently have betting companies on the front of their shirts.
I’ve met the editor of a country-leading sports website in Eastern Europe that only exists because of money from adverts for bookmakers and, closer to home, witnessed gambling companies become cheeky content providers and try to fill voids left by a contracting traditional media.
Fans are divided. Manchester United’s Supporters Trust has not taken a position but one person who has is Dr Matt Gaskell MBE, the clinical lead and consultant psychologist for the NHS Northern Gambling Service based in Manchester.
“I was dismayed when I heard about United and Betway,” he told The Athletic. “This will harm people because of the reach that United have and the exposure. It will lead to families being devastated, hurt and harmed by the mental health consequences.
“With gambling, we’re dealing with gambling-related suicides, with young male football fans who take on board the brands that football clubs like United are associated with. They trust those brands, the accompanying advertising and marketing.
“This is not about gambling being a bad thing. This is about a modern commercial gambling industry that understands how to turn recreational gamblers into more continuous, high-frequency and intensive gamblers with predictable consequences.
“We’ve taken the gambling logos off the front of shirts. We know that doesn’t go far enough, but it’s that acknowledgement that this is harmful.
“The football industry knows this is harmful. They know it’s going to hurt their communities. And yet United have chosen to do this.
“People will read this and there’ll be some who are gambling recreationally. But a lot of your readers will know somebody, if it’s not themselves, who are deeply hurt, harmed by modern gambling. And that’s because putting it on a smartphone has been a disaster for public health.
“There’s a dismay about a brand that we really love and trust, the biggest football club in the country, if not the world, when they do so much great work in the community.”
It is a deeply divisive industry and now one that is under the spotlight as a potentially prominent sponsor of Manchester United.
