“It could have argued that just because the public is irritated by the number of ads, that is not justification to stop advertising. It could have pointed out that there is no evidence to suggest children are gambling online in response to television advertising during sporting events. Instead they chose to listen to those public concerns and take positive and decisive action to drastically reduce the amount of gambling advertising on television.” John Hagan, Managing Partner, Hagan Harris
P76 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
proportionate manner and that it is not of particular appeal to children. In addressing these concerns, it is important for the industry to adopt a precautionary approach.
Does all unrestricted advertising for gambling result in a ban? Do gambling firms always go too far?
Tere is a responsibility on operators to do the right thing by their customers. Tis puts an enormous amount of responsibility on the shoulders of the overwhelming number of operators that are reputable and responsible to create a positive environment for their customers, treat them fairly and have safeguards in place to protect the young and vulnerable. Whilst I would like to believe that the entire industry behaves in this way, there will always be those who, left to their own devices, would not meet those standards. So it is important that reputable operators are not faced with a commercial and competitive disadvantage by setting their own high standards and that is where regulatory support is important through general raising of the advertising standards expected of operators and enforcement action against operators who do not meet those standards.
When does the Whistle-to-Whistle advertising ban in the UK come into force during sporting events and how significant is this voluntary decision taken by operators?
Te whistle-to-whistle ban in the UK comes into effect on the first of August, which was the earliest practicable date given all the existing contractual arrangements. From the start of next season there will be a “whistle-to-whistle” ban on gambling advertising before the 9pm watershed, commencing five minutes before the sporting event starts and ending five minutes afterwards, including during half- time in football matches. In other sports, such as test match cricket match, there will be no gambling advertising throughout the duration of the event. Tere will also be no gambling advertising around highlights and re-runs.
In the UK, we reached a position in which the public concern was that there was simply too much gambling advertising on television. In response, the industry could have said there was no evidence to show that advertising was increasing the number of people gambling. It could have argued that just because the public is irritated by the number of ads, that is not justification to stop advertising. It could have pointed out that there is no evidence to suggest children are gambling online in response to television advertising during sporting events. Instead they chose to listen to those public concerns and take positive and decisive action to drastically reduce the amount of gambling advertising on television.
Te industry came together as a whole to reach a
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