The New York State Gaming Commission updated its marketing regulations to address a variety of advertising issues including misleading terms, revenue-share affiliate agreements, and underage advertising.
At the Monday meeting, the updated marketing guidelines were adopted with unanimous support. They partially address some of the concerns that were raised by S1550, which is a bill that seeks to provide better responsible gambling information regarding sportsbook advertising.
The Empire State’s revised legislation will allow anyone to opt out of receiving marketing. Preventative measures will also apply to any advertising that promotes gambling, or harmful gambling, as a right-of-passage.
Operators will also be prohibited from advertising specific bets or using ads featuring characters that appeal primarily to minors like cartoon characters.
Other restrictions include a ban on advertising in areas where the “reasonably predicable percentage” of the audience falls below the legal wagering limit and a restriction that prohibits marketing on college-owned assets such as school papers or radio stations.
Operators in New York may not have expected these regulatory changes after Congressman Paul Tonko announced plans to introduce a federal bill that would ban sports betting marketing. He compared it to the ones applied to cigarettes.
The new rules include a significant restriction on revenue-sharing advertising agreements. They state: “No casino gambling licensee or vendor can enter into an agreement to conduct advertising, marketing or branding for the benefit of such licensee when compensation is dependent or related to the volume of patrons or outcome of the wagers.”
This topic has been discussed in other states as well this week. Massachusetts regulators have proposed laws to ban CPA and revenue-share deals in the Bay State.
The NYSGC also discussed the progress of the downstate casino licensing process. The commission has received hundreds upon hundreds of complaints about the request for applications process. However, it will take three weeks to resolve these concerns before moving on to the next stage.
