Unibet and the Swedish Elite Football (SEF) announced Wednesday the creation of a new online training for professional football players and their coaches in player responsibility and safer gambling. One thousand active athletes will take these online courses, which have been created as part of the sponsorship agreement for the two Swedish leagues Allsvenskan and Superettan.
Kindred’s Unibet and SEF will work together with the 32 male elite football clubs that are represented in Allsvenskan and Superettan leagues to educate players and coaches in safer gambling. The online training will start after the season has ended, and the Integrity Officer of each club will ensure the training is conducted.
The training follows on from the match-fixing course that was conducted earlier this Spring. “The work with player responsibility and safer gambling is a major part of Kindred’s sustainability strategy and is a key element of their partnership with SEF”, the company stated.
In an official press release, Philip Lagström, Country Manager Unibet Sweden, spoke about this new endeavor and said: “During our partnership with Swedish Elite Football (SEF), we have made several efforts to fight match-fixing and harmful gambling. This training is only one example of the work we do with SEF and we will continue our great efforts throughout the contract period. For us, it is very important to share and contribute our knowledge through this sponsorship. Unibet wants a sustainable gambling industry and our ambition is to reach 0% revenue derived from harmful gambling by 2023”
Anders Wikström, League Integrity Officer at Swedish Elite Football, added: “For some individuals, in society as well as within the athletic environment, gambling can, unfortunately, become a problem. Together with our partner Unibet, we want to take responsibility and offer an additional responsible gambling tool through this training. The online training contains a self-assessment where by answering certain questions, you get insight into your current gambling behaviour. Something that we see as a very important measure. The training also contains contact information for those who feel that they might be in a harmful situation, which provides us with reassurance”.
