The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has announced stricter new rules seeking to prevent football clubs from promoting gambling services through their official accounts on social media.
The new rules unveiled by the trade body representing the UK gambling industry have been unveiled following concerns that the social media posts could be used to circumvent the ban preventing minors from seeing gambling advertising materials online. Previously, some gambling adverts published by football clubs on their official accounts on Twitter raised some questions on whether this strategy is not used to get around some restrictions that had already been imposed by authorities.
Under the new Code of Conduct of the Betting and Gaming Council, links to online gambling sites or calls to action would not be permitted on so-called “organic tweets” of professional football clubs‘ social media accounts. Furthermore, the Code of Conduct also suspends any display of odds or direct bonuses on the aforementioned tweets that cannot be only targeted at British adults.
The gambling industry’s trade body also shared it is writing to the English Premier League (EPL) and the English Football League (EFL) to inform them about the new stricter guidelines to inform professional football clubs about the changes made to its Code of Conduct and encourage them to apply the rules for gambling companies that are not members of the Betting and Gaming Council.
Football Clubs May Be Using Twitter and Facebook to Circumvent Gambling Advertising Rules
Apart from the fact that the BGT is getting in contact with the EPL and the EFL, the trade body of the UK gambling industry is set to also send a letter to Facebook and Twitter urging them to roll-out some age restrictions for all social media accounts in order to make sure that organic posts that feature gambling advertising would not be accessed by individuals who are under 18 years old.
In August 2020, the Sixth Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising was published by the Betting and Gaming Council. The Code demands from the trade body’s members to make sure all sponsored or paid-for adverts on social media platforms target only customers aged 25 and over unless the website is able to provide proof that the adverts can precisely target individuals aged 18 and over.
Apart from that, the latest version of the Code for Socially Responsible Advertising requires gambling advertising materials that appear on search engines to be clear that they are intended only for people who are over 18 years old. Furthermore, the adverts need to feature messages promoting safer and responsible gambling.
BGC’s Chair, Brigid Simmonds, explained that football clubs are currently followed on social media by millions of people of all ages.
Simmonds further noted that the members of the Betting and Gaming Council were not tolerant of gambling by underage individuals, so the industry had to make sure children are adequately protected from being exposed to gambling adverts on Twitter and other social media. The new guidelines of the trade body are aimed at setting clear standards for UK football clubs when they post any gambling promotions on their social media accounts and the BGC would be expecting them to comply with the new requirements as soon as possible.
- Author
Daniel Williams
