A question mark drawn on a chalkboardBetting partner: survey result and next steps

The Dons Trust recently held a ‘temperature test’ survey amongst its members to help determine our approach to a possible partnership between the club/Trust and a betting company.

Previous surveys had suggested that the Trust’s members had a fairly split attitude towards such a tie-up. With a firm proposal on the table, we wanted to explore again members’ attitudes towards the principle of a tie-up in this area.

We asked:

‘Would you be in favour, in principle, of AFC Wimbledon and the Dons Trust pursuing a formal partnership (not extending to stadium naming rights or main shirt sponsorship) with a betting company such as the one proposed with FansBet?’

The survey was indicative and non-binding but 1596 members responded (a higher turnout than during last year’s board election). The responses broke down as follows:

  • Yes = 1058 (66.29%)
  • No = 538 (33.71%)

The Trust board took this voting into consideration and has on balance decided that it is content for the football club to carry on exploring a link-up along these lines. The board has, however, suggested a number of measures that might help limit the exposure of younger supporters to any betting advertising associated with the tie-up.

Trust board member Luke Mackenzie, who coordinated the survey, said: “We know that gambling sponsorship is a contentious issue and that people won’t abandon their strongly held beliefs just because a poll has been taken. Even within the Trust board, members hold different views about the issue.”

We would like to thank all our members who took part in this survey, which was carried out both online and via in-person voting at the Dons Trust kiosk before the Doncaster Rovers and Peterborough United matches.

If at all possible, we urge all members to sign up to receive email communications from the Trust, rather than postal communications.

Not only does this save the Trust a considerable amount of money, it will also help us engage with you in a much more timely fashion as we seek to improve our communications.

If you are already a member and wish to switch to email communications, please email our membership secretary and let him know your name, your membership number and the email address you wish us to use.