Britain’s regulations on gambling adverts are the most lenient ‘despite having more research on the negative effects of gambling marketing than several other European countries combined’, says a report commissioned by the GambleAware charity.
The organisation is calling for a pre-watershed ban on broadcast adverts and a ‘blanket ban across sports’, alongside mandatory health warnings and tougher restrictions on online marketing.
Gambling marketing bans are increasingly becoming the norm in countries like Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands in response to concerns about gambling-related harm and ‘normalisation for young people’, says the document, which was produced by Ipsos and the University of Bristol. Gambling marketing ‘continues to bombard the public’, it states, with operators spending £1.5bn a year on advertising and marketing. More than two thirds of people think there is ‘too much’ gambling advertising, with around three quarters backing more regulation for TV and social media marketing, it adds.
Regulating gambling marketing in the countries studied was a ‘political choice’, the report says, with ‘significant’ new primary legislation put in place based on a public health argument that increased consumption leads to increased harm and that gambling was being normalised for children and young people. This was despite opposition from the ‘significant’ gambling lobbies in each country, and huge amounts of revenue flowing into the sports and media sectors. ‘Arguments against regulation focused on the economic impact of lost tax revenue and employment, the risk of a black-market expansion and infringements on the commercial freedom of industry,’ it states.
The Gambling White Paper – which was finally published two and a half years after the government first announced a review of the 2005 Gambling Act – was much criticised for failing to include any meaningful measures to address advertising and marketing, despite the widespread public support.
‘In Great Britain, despite the publication of almost 500 research papers in the last decade from British universities including specialist gambling units at academic institutions such as Bristol, Bournemouth, and Glasgow – more research than Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium combined – there is no primary legislation in place to regulate gambling marketing including on TV, radio, online and in sport,’ the charity states. ‘There is strong evidence to show that gambling advertising increases participation, and therefore risk.’
The result of the government consultation on a statutory levy on the gambling industry – which would compel companies to pay a percentage of their profits towards treatment, research and prevention – is expected soon. However, while GambleAware ‘looks forward’ to the introduction of the levy it still wants to see ‘urgent action’ on marketing regulation, it says.
‘Every day we are bombarded by gambling advertising, marketing and sponsorship on TV, radio and online,’ said chair of Peers for Gambling Reform, Lord Foster of Bath. ‘There is huge public support to curb it and there’s a wealth of research showing the harm it causes. But we remain woefully behind the curve in terms of the regulation needed to protect individuals from harm. Crucially, the power to regulate key aspects of this – such as gambling advertising – is already within the gift of the secretary of state as set out in the Gambling Act 2005. Our current regulations are too lenient, and fail to advance the much-needed public health approach to gambling that Peers for Gambling Reform has long called for.’
Drivers of gambling marketing restrictions – an international comparison available here