UK-licensed gambling operators are facing another wave of scolding for irresponsible provision of gambling services and are being urged by UK regulators to remove any advertising content that might appeal to children from their websites.
A joint letter by the UK Gambling Commission, the Committee of Advertising Practice, the Advertising Standards Authority, and the Remote Gambling Association was sent to UK-facing operators and published on Friday. The move came after a recent investigation by the Sunday Times discovered that iGaming brands are often using child- and youth-oriented content to promote their services. According to the newspaper, favorite characters such as Peter Pan and Jack and the Beanstalk can be found on various gambling websites.
In their joint letter, the gambling and advertising organizations urge operators to remove immediately any “any freely accessible ads” that are likely to attract the attention of those under 18. UK licensees will also have to make sure that their affiliates have also removed any such content from their websites.
The letter says that any failure to comply with the requirements would be sanctioned heavily. Earlier this year, gambling operator BGO was fined £300,000 for featuring misleading advertising content on its website and for not preventing affiliate partners from featuring such advertisements on their own websites. The hefty fine came as a precursor to the UK Gambling Commission’s hardened stance on violations of the principles and rules that its licensees are required to comply with.
Operators are encouraged to remove any advertising content that might appeal to children. If, however, they feel uncertain whether an ad falls into that group or not, they should remove it and discuss its contents with the CAP Copy Advice team, a division of the Committee of Advertising Practice. Here it is important to note that the Committee authors the Code of Nonbroadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing or the set of rules advertisers must comply with when promoting within the UK.
UK’s Gambling Children
A 2016 survey by the UK Gambling Commission found that around 450,000 children aged 11 to 15 engaged in any form of gambling activity every week. Around 3% of all interviewed said that they had wagered their own money online and 6% of the respondents revealed that they had accessed and had gambled on iGaming websites from their parents’ accounts.
The research also showed that National Lottery scratchcards, slot machine games and private bets among friends were the most highly preferred forms of gambling among children aged 11-15.
The rate of gambling children stood at 16%, according to the UK Gambling Commission, and had remained flat from the previous year. The gambling regulator also found that there might be 9,000 children with problem gambling behavior across the UK and that those aged 11-15 were more prone to gambling than to smoking, drinking, and taking drugs.
