Labour Faces Pressure to Strengthen Gambling Ad Regulations
The UK Labour government is under mounting pressure to reverse the previous government’s decision not to enforce stricter rules on gambling advertising, particularly in sports.
UK’s Labour government under pressure to tighten gambling ad rules.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:Politicians, campaigners, and football figures have voiced their concerns, urging the government to impose tougher controls. At a Westminster summit, experts called on Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, to place restrictions on gambling marketing to safeguard children and vulnerable individuals.
In 2005, Tony Blair’s Labour government revised Britain’s gambling laws and relaxed restrictions on gambling advertisements. This was just before smartphones made gambling more accessible than ever. By 2017, bookies and UK online casinos were spending over £1.5 billion on advertising, a figure that has likely continued to rise.
Majority of Public Back Ban on Gambling Ads
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, co-chair of a cross-party group studying gambling-related harms, referenced a survey from Survation that showed the majority of the public favors banning gambling ads outright. While Duncan Smith stopped short of advocating for a complete ban, he stressed, “Politicians need to align with public sentiment” and added, “It’s obvious what should be done.”
Duncan Smith urged the new government to ban incentives such as “free” bets and to limit gambling ads in sports, proposing a ban on sponsorship deals with football clubs and restricting ads in and around stadiums. Although Premier League teams have agreed to stop using betting sponsors on the front of their shirts by the end of next season, this voluntary measure does not affect other areas of the shirt or advertising in stadiums, nor does it apply to lower-league clubs.
Mark Palios, former chief executive of the Football Association and chair of Tranmere Rovers, does not believe that this goes far enough as numerous children support lower league clubs. Tranmere is one of 40 clubs that have joined The Big Step, a campaign urging football clubs to reject gambling sponsorships.
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Calls for Pre-9pm Ban on Gambling Ads
Several campaign groups have also called for a pre-9pm ban on betting and casino ads, a move supported by GambleAware. Recently released data from the Gambling Commission, based on a new methodology, suggests that up to 2.5% of adults in Great Britain could be affected by problem gambling, eight times higher than previously estimated.
Lord Foster, who chairs Peers for Gambling Reform, which hosted the summit, said that Nandy has the power to act quickly in reforming gambling advertising without the need for primary legislation and said that it was “bizarre that the previous government didn’t tackle gambling ads in last year’s regulatory white paper.”
The white paper did include some reforms, such as a £5 limit on slot machine stakes and new affordability checks, which are currently being piloted. However, the Conservative government declined to address advertising, citing insufficient evidence linking ads directly to gambling harm.
At the event, Dr. Heather Wardle from the University of Glasgow argued that while it’s difficult to prove definitively that advertising causes gambling harm, previous restrictions on products like tobacco were based on observed impacts and said a similar approach could be applied to gambling.
Clive Tyldesley, a football commentator, also spoke and said that he had left his role at TalkSport due to its promotion of sports gambling during broadcasts. Furthermore, Guy Parker, head of the Advertising Standards Authority, acknowledged that while policy decisions rest with the government, he was surprised by the sheer volume of gambling advertising.
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