On May 19th, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published its Annual Report 2021. As part of it, the regulator provided some details regarding the stricter policy on gambling advertising, as well as the recently announced limitations on the use of celebrities and influencers in gambling ads, as part of its efforts to protect younger audiences in the UK.
At the time when the advertising watchdog published its annual report for the past year, the Committee on Advertising Practices (CAP) revealed that British children’s viewership of advertising in general over the past decade experienced a decline to 6.9 hours weekly in 2020, whilst the number of ads seen by underage individuals per week fell to 103.7 in 2020. According to the recently published report, the children’s exposure to gambling commercials had been reduced by more than one-third.
Apart from the changes in the trend of British children’s advertising consumption the ASA provided more information about the introduction of tougher content restrictions on gambling commercials. The regulatory body revealed that it plans to introduce stricter new rules in the sector following the outcome of a consultation on gambling ads. The move is part of its commitment to protecting vulnerable audiences, including underage individuals.
New Rules Aim at Making Gambling Adverts Unappealing to Children and Vulnerable People
The UK advertising regulator revealed that the number of gambling adverts seen by children had declined from an average of 3 weekly in 2010 to 2.2 weekly in 2021. Still, the CEO of the ASA, Guy Parker, noted that British children’s advertising consumption has been changing, with many of them now viewing online gambling a lot more than TV.
As announced by the Advertising Standards Authority, the new rules, which are set to come into effect on October 1st, 2022, require lottery and gambling commercials to make sure they are not reflecting or being associated with youth culture, so that they are not found strongly appealing by children. This wording takes the rules one step further because the existing rules only state that gambling ads must not be of particular appeal to underage individuals.
The reformulation of the wording would make sure that various content, including imagery, characters and themes that are associated with youth culture and usually have a strong level of appeal to people under the age of 18, is prohibited. As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the new rules would also suspend gambling operators from using professional athletes, celebrities and social media influencers in their advertising campaigns.
According to the ASA, the new stricter rules are going to significantly restrict all imagery and references that gambling commercials will be allowed to use. They are also expected to tackle the potential for gambling advertising materials to be found attractive by underage individuals.
- Author
Daniel Williams
