According to the Betting and Gaming Council, there was a drastic drop in betting ads shown on ITV during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The UK’s gambling trade association and standards body, published an update after the tournament. It stated that there were 110 ads in 2022. This is a 34% decrease from the 2018 World Cup when there were 167.
Two of Britain’s two free-to-air channels, ITV, and BBC, showed the World Cup. The BBC broadcasts the event without ads. The overall view count of the betting ads during this tournament was significantly lower.
Michael Dugher (BGC Chief Executive) stated that at the World Cup’s start, all the usual suspects predicted that there would be a “perfect storm of problem gambling” fueled by massive amounts of advertising. These data show that the warnings have been proven wrong again.
This figure did not include lottery ads and was 4.5 per match in 2018, compared to 8.35 for 2018. The BGC had a voluntary ban on advertising in betting. This resulted in a decrease of 4.5 ads per match.
This ban prohibits UK operators from showing adverts between five minutes prior to the match’s start and five minutes following its conclusion, if it is before 9pm.
This standards body claimed that the initiative resulted in a 97% decrease in ads seen by children. 20% of members’ radio and TV ads focus on responsible betting messaging.
BGC members are determined to move beyond radio and television commercials. They have adopted new age-gating rules with social media companies to reduce the amount of marketing material that is viewed online by people under 25.
With the imminent publication of Gambling Act Review, which is expected to be published after more than 25 years of political work by the BGC, the BGC has a head start on potential restrictions for betting advertising.
Advertising and marketing were the key focus of this review. Reformists called for more restrictions on TV advertising and a crackdown on sponsorship deals between betting companies and sports teams.
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which introduced rules prohibiting the use of athletes in marketing for betting, made this a violation that Ladbrokes was warned about by the Advertising Standards Authority last month.
Dugher stated that the decrease in betting advertisements is a further sign of BGC’s commitment to raise standards. He also said that the BGC encourages safer gambling tools such as time-outs and deposit limits, and signsposting assistance to people who are struggling.
Following a decline in betting advertisements on ITV’s last year’s tournament, it is continuing a trend that began in 2021 Euros during Gambling Act Review, when broadcaster said that exposure to ad ads would be “significantly decreased”.
