The UK’s Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) has issued new rules for betting advertisements, banning any “strong appeal” to anyone under 18, including the use of high-profile footballers.
The rules will be added to the CAP Code, and all marketing communications must comply with this new rule as of October 1st.
Previously, the rules said that ads must not be of “private appeal” to children or young people. Under this definition, an ad could be banned if the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) judged it to appeal more to people under the age of 18 than to adults.
However, the rules have been changed to now also ban ads that have a “strong appeal” to young people.
“Marketing communications / gambling advertisements must not […] be likely to be of strong appeal to children or youth, especially as they reflect or are associated with youth culture,” the new code reads.
This means that any ad that might be considered popular with young people can be banned, even if it is also popular with adults.
In particular, CAP said this means operators can no longer use “high-level footballers and footballers with a considerable following among those under 18 on social media”, or “known sportsmen of under 18s”. in your ads.
In addition, “references to video game content and gameplay popular among those under the age of 18” will also be prohibited.
CAP noted, however, that sports – particularly football – and eSports could be considered to have a strong appeal to children, given “high participation and engagement rates among those under 18”, and that a more rigorous reading of the rule could prohibit all marketing of bets on these sports.
As a result, it added that “this rule does not preclude advertising of gambling products associated with activities that are themselves of strong appeal to those under the age of 18 (e.g. certain sports or video games)”.
Nor can “stars of reality shows popular with under-18s” appear in ads.
“The days of gambling advertisements featuring sports stars, video game images and other content strongly appealing to those under 18 are numbered,” said CAP Director Shahriar Coupal.
“By ending these practices, our new rules invite a new era for gambling advertisements, more particularly for the adult audience, which is better suited to the age-restricted product they are promoting,” concluded Coupal.
