SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

Name: Designline Creative
Price range: $

Concern around sports sponsorship, television and online advertising has rightly come in for greater scrutiny.

In 2019, our members voluntarily introduced the whistle to whistle ban on TV betting ads from five minutes before live sport until five minutes after, before the 9pm watershed.

We are building on this to ensure the regulated industry adheres to strict advertising and marketing standards.

DELIVERING ON OUR COMMITMENT

SAFER GAMBLING MESSAGES INCREASED IN WAKE OF COVID

Betting and Gaming Council betting operators agreed to boost the number of safer gambling messages following the pandemic.

In a strong signal of the industry’s commitment to raising standards, at least 20 per cent of their TV and radio ads will promote responsible gambling.

The pledge came after they voluntarily agreed to axe all TV and radio ads for the first six weeks of the UK- wide lockdown.

That came amid concerns that lockdown could lead to a rise in problem gambling online – a scenario which has not been borne out by subsequent studies.

BGC members will also continue to abide by the stringent measures which are already put in place by advertising standards watchdogs.

The introduction of the whistle to whistle restriction resulted in 1.7 BILLION FEWER VIEWS of gambling advertising over the five months to end of December 2019*.

Gambling advertising views by children REDUCED BY 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes, and has been effectively eliminated from the restricted whistle to whistle period*.

6 WEEK shut down of TV and radio gaming product ads at the start of lockdown

20% of TV and radio ads to promote responsible gambling.

*Enders Analysis, June 2020

RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

Our aims

Set and adhere to the highest standards in all advertising and marketing
Robustly address concerns around volume, tone and content across television, online and sports sponsorship
Promote safer gambling

Our progress

In our first year of operation, we have worked with our members to:

Introduce new rules to further prevent under-18s viewing betting ads online
- The updated Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising means BGC members must ensure that all social media ads must be targeted at consumers aged 25 and over unless the website proves they can be precisely targeted at over-18
- Betting adverts appearing on search engines must make clear that they are for over-18s, while the ads themselves must include safer gambling messages.
- YouTube users will only see betting ads if they are logged in to an age- verified account, and BGC members will also post frequent responsible gambling messages on their Twitter accounts.
Commission independent research into the impact and effectiveness of the whistle-to- whistle television advertising ban
More than double the number of safer gambling messages following the introduction of our 10-pledge Covid action plan
Develop a new Code of Conduct at the request of the Gambling Commission, for Responsible Promotions, including bonuses, customer contact, VIP promotions and rewards

Going forward, we will:

Develop further measures around sponsorship activities.
Develop further steps with social media companies such as unsubscribing from gambling advertising, expanding negative keywords to prevent rogue advertising and expanding safer gambling messaging.

Scoping papers have now been produced.