The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) unveiled strict new measures aimed at providing better protection to underage individuals against online gambling ads. The crackdown unveiled by the trade body, which represents the regulated gambling industry in the UK except for the National Lottery, came at the time when the BGC officially published the Sixth Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising.
As mentioned above, the new measures have been planned as part of the standards body’s efforts to further prevent individuals under 18 years of age from seeing gambling adverts on the Internet, especially when it comes to domains that are focused on children’s audiences.
Under the new rules, the BGC members would be required to make sure that their sponsored or paid-for adverts uploaded on the social media websites are aimed only at customers aged 25 and over unless the domain is able to prove the ads can be finely tuned for audiences of individuals at over 18 years of age.
The new code also includes a requirement that gambling adverts that appear on search engines must openly state they are only for adults aged 18 and over. Furthermore, adverts must also include messages about safer gambling. The members of the UK gambling industry trade body will also be required to post responsible gambling messages on their official Twitter accounts on a regular basis.
Under the new rules, YouTube users will have to use age-verified accounts before they are allowed to access gambling adverts so that individuals themselves guarantee for being of age.
BGC Members Have Voluntarily Unveiled “Whistle-to-Whistle” Ban on Gambling Adverts
The sixth edition of the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising is set to come into force on October 1st. It has been unveiled as the latest part of the Betting and Gaming Council’s efforts to boost standards within the betting and gaming sector of the UK.
Other measures that the gambling industry’s trade body has unveiled so far include the so-called “whistle-to-whistle” ban on TV gambling ads, new age and ID verification checks held by operators, increased contributions for education, research and treatment of problem gambling, the inclusion of safer gambling messages in all adverts on TV and radio, encouraging deposit limits and cooling-off period for customers who play on gambling terminals.
The BGC’s boss Michael Dugher has reiterated the standards body’s willingness to continue boosting the standards in the country’s betting and gaming sector. He praised the members of the trade body for making excellent progress and said that it was also a great thing that the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising was updated in line with the constant improvement of technology in the sector.
Mr Dugher further confirmed that BGC members had no tolerance for allowing underage individuals to gamble, so they would continue to stick to strict regulation in the industry. At the same time, he called for the UK Government to make sure that new crackdown measures are unveiled to prevent black market operators, which have no interest in protecting customers from possible gambling-related harm, from offering their services in the country.
- Author
Daniel Williams
