Betting & Broadcast stakeholders hit back at UK government advertising review

Betting industry stakeholders have criticised the UK government with regards to its planned review of gambling advertising standards, which may see the introduction of a blanket ban on operator advertisements’ before the 9 pm watershed.

Last Friday, the UK betting industry was rocked by the confirmation that the Conservative government would attach a review of UK gambling advertising practices to its ongoing examination into Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).

Justifying its review, government officials stated bi-party concerns regarding increased gambling advertising during daytime broadcasts and its effect on ‘normalising’ UK teenagers to gambling products and services.

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Clive Hawkswood Chief Executive of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), was the first industry figurehead to criticise the government’s actions;

“All the evidence was considered, and it was deemed there wasn’t significant evidence to make a change of that kind,”

“We would never say things can’t be improved but what’s the justification? Some people have a gut reaction, and that’s slightly hard to deal with.”

Furthermore, the governances UK TV broadcasters are said to be concerned with the government’s review and its negative impact on revenues attached to sports broadcast content.

Media analyst Nielsen has reported that UK broadcasters have earned a combined £162 million in gambling/betting TV advertisements to date in 2016.

Commenting on the matter, ITV stated that UK broadcasters had implemented ‘stricter controls’ with regards to gambling advertising content.

The broadcaster further detailed that ‘Children between 10-15 see an equivalent of only 42 seconds of gambling ads out of 17 hours spent watching TV per week.