I do think the professional players earn too much, including from gambling. Gambling and football go hand-in-hand. More than half the ads during the game advertise betting. This is obviously a huge part of their business. Politicians could not make it illegal, this is the whole point, because football has control over them.
Football really doesn't have control over politicians. There are only 20 premier league teams and most of them aren't very influential, only a few big clubs. In terms of scale they are dwarfed by the financial services industry in the UK. Arm for example could buy all of the premier league teams (with their own equity, not cash on hand).
