SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has reported that the number of gambling adverts on illegal websites has dropped by a third since the UKGC joined a police operation aimed at disrupting websites that break copyright laws.
Earlier this year the Commission teamed up with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) for Operation Creative – an operation aimed at reducing the advertising revenue of sites providing access to pirated films, music and books.
Since then PIPCU has seen a 36per cent decrease in gambling adverts on copyright infringing websites. The PIPCU further informed that there had been a 73% decrease in advertising from the UK’s top ad spending companies on copyright infringing websites.
Reducing advertising on illegal sites is one of the key aims of Operation Creative as it is one of the main generators of criminal profits. A report by the Digital Citizens Alliance estimated that in 2013 piracy websites generated $227million from advertising.
Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Intellectual Property said:
“The Government takes copyright infringement extremely seriously – it hurts businesses, consumers and the wider economy. The results of Operation Creative show what can be achieved when enforcement agencies, industry and government work together. I am delighted PIPCU are clamping down on advertising of things like pop music and gambling on copyright infringing sites – protecting our industries and consumers from online crime.”
