The UK’s four largest bookmakers are setting up a self-policing body to monitor advertising practices and allay mounting concerns over an explosion of gambling-related commercials on British television.
William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Gala Coral have pledged to cooperate with advertising standards authorities and government regulators on a planned ban on aggressive sign-up, deposit-bonus and so-called “free money” ads. Additional measures will see all advertising of fixed odds betting terminals removed from the quartet’s retail betting shops. They have further promised that all advertising in every medium will feature responsible gambling messages.
The new body aims to be up and running by January 2015, and the four say they hope more companies will join.
“Gambling has long been a leisure pursuit and part of the cultural fabric of the UK, but we are alive to the concerns of the public to keep gambling a responsible and fun activity,” said Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn.
Between 2007 and 2012 the number of gambling commercials on British TV rocketed from 234,000 a year to nearly 1.4 million, according to research published last year by Ofcom, the government’s telecommunications regulator. The research showed that in 2012, people under the age of 16 were exposed to an average of 211 ads each.
