On April 23rd, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has announced two ongoing key initiatives as part of its engagement to make sure that gambling advertising in the country remains responsible. It issued a warning to all gambling operators that offer their services on the territory of the UK to be particularly cautious when advertising esports betting, as it could potentially be found appealing by young audiences.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has confirmed that the CAP has undertaken thorough measures associated with the esports betting sector in order to guarantee there are no loopholes in the gambling regulation. As a result, the regulatory body warned all gambling operating licence holders that their adverts for esports betting services must be in line with the same regulation applicable to all other forms of gambling advertising.
The warning came as a response to research that GambleAware held to learn more about the impact of gambling advertising to local customers. In addition, the CAP confirmed that it is engaged with comprehensive work around esports betting advertising in social media. As the CAP shared, this has given it a better understanding of the emerging area for gambling advertising policy, so that there are no gaps in the regulation of customer protection.
Underage Individuals Must Not Be Targetted by Gambling Adverts, CAP Insists
The above-mentioned research, which GambleAware published in March 2020, found that many esports gambling ads which were allegedly targetting young people. At the time when the results of the research were revealed, the largest gambling charity called for the UK gambling regulators to make sure they give operators some guidance on marketing practices in this vertical.
Now, the CAP once again reiterated its requirement for operators that if a certain advert is being promoted by a third-party account on social media, such as influencer or affiliate marketing, then it must openly reveal that it is an ad. Furthermore, it reminded that underage individuals must not be targetted by gambling advertising, either through medium or content.
The watchdog is also providing guidance for gambling operators on how to stay compliant with the advertising rules when creating marketing for esports gambling on social media. It is preparing to report fully on its response to the report of GambleAware in the autumn. Besides, it will continue the monitoring, control and enforcement actions regarding gambling advertising whenever any compliance problems are identified. The protection of most vulnerable society members would also remain one of the key priorities of the watchdog.
As far as younger audiences are concerned, the CAP said that terms and conditions of gambling operators for the accounts of individuals under 25 years of age must be clarified, even in the limited time that is normally provided on various digital channels, including social media.
- Author
Daniel Williams
