The Australian Football League "is being drawn into conflict with its clubs" over sports betting with an "overwhelming majority of Victorian clubs now formally refusing to take sponsorships from sports betting agencies," according to Michael Gleeson of THE AGE. Richmond this week became the seventh Victorian club to sign a "responsible gambling charter and agree not to have commercial relationships with sports betting companies." Sportsbet was a second-tier Richmond sponsor last year and in '09 and '10, Luxbet was the club's major sponsor. Carlton, Melbourne and Geelong are now the "only Victorian clubs agreeable to having relationships with sports betting agencies." Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said the club was troubled by the "pervasive nature" of sports betting which had normalized the idea of betting and "this was having a profound impact on children attending games." Richmond received sponsorship payment from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation but Gale admitted the decision to not sign sponsorships with sports betting companies now or in the future "would come at a cost" to the club but "we felt in the circumstances it is a small price to pay" (THE AGE, 2/17).
