Celebrity scandals are a regular part of 21st Century life. In a world of social media and gossip, the private lives of the rich and famous are laid bare for us all to pick at. Celebrity gambling scandals are few and far between, but when one does hit, not even the best online casino is safe from the potential damage it can cause. In this article, we are going to take a look at celebrity involvement in the gambling industry, and the impact that their scandals have on it.
Loss of Trust in the Industry
It seems unfortunate that, whenever a celebrity has been caught up in a gambling scandal, it is the industry that gets put under the microscope, but that is often the case. Whenever a celebrity or public figure is revealed to have been in a scandal involving casinos, the public’s attention is often quickly diverted to the industry itself, with a lot of them using it as a scapegoat.
While some of the celebrities that are caught up in these scandals will use their platforms to create discussions around the importance of responsible gambling and highlight the pitfalls of gambling addiction, many of them will just use the industry as an easy way of diverting attention.
As such, one of the biggest impacts of these scandals is a public backlash against the gambling industry. Depending on the size of the scandal, and the celebrity involved, this can lead to cries for regulation changes and restrictions being put on the industry.
All of this also leads to a level of mistrust in the gambling industry on the whole, and could even turn some players away. An association with scandal is never a good thing and in many cases, these celebrities are also embroiled in some sort of other issues. As such, gambling becomes guilty by association in the eyes of the public.
Match Fixing & Football
When it comes to gambling-related scandals in the UK, the most common is definitely match-fixing and betting scandals surrounding football. The beautiful game is huge in the UK, and the Premier League is one of the biggest sporting divisions in the world.
Several players have found themselves embroiled in match-fixing or betting scandals, many of which involve players betting on the outcome of their own games and then having a part to play. This could be something as small as betting on the team that has the first throw-in, or something much more impactful on the match such as the scoreline or a yellow or red card.
How does this affect the industry at large though? Well, the biggest impact is probably from the knock-on effect in the media. There is a sizeable anti-gambling movement in the UK, and incidents like this quickly become a weapon they can use to push through the changes they want to see.
One of the biggest changes is betting firms’ involvement with the Premier League and sports in general. There is a very big push to remove gambling sponsorship from sports in the UK, and these scandals help to further that stance. The influence of football on young people in the UK is unquestionable, and many critics will use this as a way of attacking the gambling industry at large.
Financial Impact
Celebrity scandals can also have a big financial impact on the industry. One of the biggest comes from sponsorship issues. When a celebrity is involved in a gambling scandal, other public figures want to distance themselves from top online casinos and bookmakers. Depending on the size of the scandal, this can lead to people cancelling sponsorship deals, and costing operators a lot of money.
The knock-on effects of these things are hard to quantify, but the loss of a major public figure’s involvement is definitely going to impact the number of players a casino attracts. It could also do long-term damage to the casino and its brand. A high-profile celebrity distancing themselves in a public way could change how people perceive the casino.
Damage Control
As with any type of scandal, the quickest thing a casino can do when a celebrity is involved in a gambling scandal is to get ahead of it. Celebrity scandals often need a scapegoat, and casinos offer that. A scandal can rock an individual business and an industry as a whole, so making sure that it is dealt with efficiently is the best course of action.
Celebrity gambling scandals will no doubt continue to happen, but as the gambling industry becomes bigger, the potential for damage to the industry increases.