Three bookmakers have taken the responsibility of preventing the implement of a great number of laws that would pose a problem to the popularisation of the betting shops, roulette machines and all the advertisements that offer “free money”.
William Hill, Coral, Ladbrokes, along with Paddy Power, have decided to clean out the advertisements, concerning the touch screen roulette machines from the windows, and put some more liable messages instead.
Another thing they have agreed about was avoiding to take advantage of the offers that promise the new players can get the “free money”, mentioned above, before 9 o’clock in the evening.
2015 will be the year when an advertising campaign, aimed at discussing the delicate issues in the gambling industry, will take place. The bookmakers have stated that their campaign will be much more different than what the audience is used to. There will be meaningful messages that are supposed to make the public think about the gambling problems. The campaign will be called the Senet Group.
Needless to say, the campaign have already met the fierce opposition of the fixed odds betting terminals that started critisizing the bookmakers’ initiative right after they heard about it. They are totally against the betting shop roulette machines. As reported by their spokesman, the bookmakers’ campaign is a desperate action towards saving their monopoly and its success is disputable: “If the Gambling Commission was fit for purpose there would not be the need for a watchdog. But for any such watchdog to have credibility it should be neither industry-run nor industry-funded.”
Meanwhile, the gambling business continues to experience the negative results from the measures, taken by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. One of the imposed rules and regulations makes it way more complicated for a player to bet a sum, higher than £50 on one spin of a wheel. By comparison, players were allowed to bet up to £100 in a spin.
The authorities didn’t take the bookmakers’ request for reducing the maximum bets into consideration. On the contrary, they made the players who bets high sums ask for approval of their bets.
The Gambling Commission authorities are now discussing new laws that intend to place the advertisements under restrictions. However, the reforms may result in additional difficulties, concerning mainly the new sites.
The Senet Group foundation and their campaign resulted in raising the awareness of some other companies: the Portman Group has put forward the idea of setting particular standards for advertising. The binge drinking is also disapproved and it is absolutely possible several campaigns to be organised so the public get acquainted with the dangers it poses.
The bookmakers are really enthusiastic about attracting more followers. For the time being, there is a possibility of engaging Betfred – a major chain for betting activities.
Accoring to the chief executive on William Hill “The launch of the Senet Group sets a benchmark by which we and the betting industry can be judged.”
