Football and gambling

As a new World Cup approaches, what does it mean that gambling now sits so close to the heart of football - and how far has the game travelled from its local roots?

Laurie Taylor explores two distinct ways of understanding football’s place in contemporary society. He’s joined by Darragh McGee from the University of Bath, whose book Imitation Games charts the rapid rise of gambling and its growing entanglement with the sport. He examines how, over the past two decades, online platforms, mobile technologies and global marketing have transformed gambling into a constant presence around the game. McGee reflects on how this shift has been normalised, particularly among younger supporters, and considers the broader social consequences of an increasingly immersive and continuous gambling environment.

Adam Dinsmore (from Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport) focuses not on football’s global reach but on its local meanings. Drawing on research with supporters in post-industrial towns such as Blackburn and Middlesbrough, he examines how football clubs continue to function as powerful symbols of place-identity. In communities shaped by deindustrialisation, where traditional forms of work and collective life have eroded, the local club often remains one of the last enduring institutions linking past and present. Through intergenerational practices of fandom - attending matches, sharing memories, sustaining rivalries - supporters reproduce a sense of belonging that extends beyond the stadium.

Together, these perspectives offer a portrait of a game pulled in different directions: shaped by global markets and gambling infrastructures, yet still rooted in local histories and identities.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez
Editor: Robyn Read