Gambling links from children's pages on club websites to be investigated

West Ham's 'colouring in' page has a direct link in the top left hand corner to its gambling sponsor's website

The Gambling Commission says it will investigate how seven Premier League and Championship clubs had direct links to betting sites from children's pages of their websites.

BBC Sport contacted top-flight clubs Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham and Aston Villa, plus Championship clubs QPR, Millwall and Reading, to inform them of the links, which contravene the regulatory body's rules.

The links appeared at the bottom of their junior membership and games pages, and have since been taken down.

In some cases the links clicked through to offers of free bets.

But at the time of publication there is still a direct link to West Ham's gambling sponsor on its children's 'colouring in' page which has pictures of a teddy bear, the club mascot and former captain Bobby Moore.

The sponsor features on a banner across every page of its website.

The Gambling Commission said it would be "looking into the matter raised".

It added: "Gambling advertising and sponsor credits must not appear on any web pages that are directed at under-18s.

"Sports teams should be ensuring that all content on such webpages is appropriate for children, and we expect gambling companies to take responsibility for where their adverts and logos appear."

Campaign group The Big Step, part of the charity Gambling with Lives, said: "The junior section of a club website should be a safe place for children to engage with their club - not be one click away from an online gambling site.

"Most clubs thankfully don't have any gambling links on pages targeted at children and although it's welcome clubs have now acted after pressure, the damage has already been done."

A similar issue was highlighted by the BBC 5 Live Investigates programme in 2018, when 15 British clubs had links to betting websites from their junior pages.

West Ham, Tottenham, Aston Villa, QPR, Millwall and Reading said the links at the bottom of some of its junior pages were made in error.

Arsenal said the list of sponsors only appeared on its junior membership programme, which was "aimed at parents who want to sign their children up" but "took its responsibilities with regard to marketing to children very seriously" and removed the links "to avoid future confusion".

A Tottenham spokesperson said: "We sincerely regret this error and have adjusted our practices to ensure this does not happen again. We apologise for any offence caused."

QPR said: "The club appreciates this issue being raised. The link has subsequently been removed and an internal investigation will now take place to understand how this has happened and to ensure it does not occur again."

The Big Step added: "With 55,000 children already addicted to gambling, this is another awful example of how football is normalising gambling to a generation of young fans."

A link to Tottenham's gambling partner at the bottom of its Fun & Games page has now been removed