UK sports betting operators may or may not have agreed to a television advertising ban, but nearly one-fifth of bettors say such a ban will cause them to stop wagering on live sports.

On Thursday, the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) denied a BBC report which claimed that RGA members had agreed to a ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban on gambling promos during live sports broadcasts. However, industry scuttlebutt has it that such an announcement may come as early as next week.

That will apparently be just fine with the UK television audience, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive, which conducted a snap poll of 963 respondents after the BBC report emerged. The survey audience was comprised of 527 females and 436 males, with 232 respondents aged 18-34 years, 332 aged 35-54 and the remaining 399 aged 55+.

More than four-fifths (81%) of those surveyed were in favor of the live sports betting ad ban, although this number shrunk to 66% when the focus was narrowed to those who actually place online sports wagers. Active bettors were also far more aware of the ban (51%) than the general public (35%).