The Church of England has urged the UK Government to reduce gambling adverts at a time when voices have been raised in the industry, sharing concerns that children and young individuals in the country are being targeted with messages that make betting look like a normal everyday activity. According to campaigners, all gambling adverts aired before the 9:00 PM watershed have to be banned.
Recently, the Church of England became one of the opponents of aggressive gambling advertising campaigns used by some operators and called for more serious measures to be taken against British bookmakers’ commercials. As mentioned above, gambling advertising in the country has been put under fire, especially after a study showed that two in three teenagers feel they are intimidated by increasing number of betting adverts aired on TV.
As The Daily Mail revealed, approximately 65% of British teenagers have shared that TV channels are overflowing with too many adverts promoting gambling on sporting events. In addition, for some time now, campaigners have tried to raise awareness of possible negative effect that increased gambling advertising could have on young individuals and more vulnerable people, saying that children are put at risk of becoming gambling addicts instead of being given the chance to enjoy themselves while watching sports events.
Increased Gambling Advertising Raises Concerns
The survey was held by Lord Chadlington-commissioned Populus among 1,000 British teenagers between 14 and 18 year-olds. According to the results of the survey, most teenagers believe that such adverts make gambling look fun. On the other hand, about half of British children said that gambling adverts make an impression that gambling was a good way to win money.
Opponents of extended gambling advertising have raised a red flag, saying that the presence of such commercials during sports events aired on TV and the fact that bookmakers often used celebrities to promote their offering make gambling not only look acceptable to children, but also “normalised” it.
As Casino Guardian reported a few days ago, gambling operators on the territory of the UK could face stricter rules imposed on gambling advertising. At the end of last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) called for all gambling sector-interested parties, including industry stakeholders, members of the public, charity organisations members, customers, etc. to take part in a consultation over proposed changes to the regulatory rules about gambling advertising.
The Commission is now seeking to expand its powers in order to be given the right to impose fines on local bookmakers that violate rules about gambling marketing and advertising. For the time being, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has the right to impose some sanctions on companies that breached gambling advertising rules, but imposing monetary fines is not one of them. That is exactly the reason why the UK Gambling Commission wants to be given more prerogatives in order to make sure local customers are well-protected against possible gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
