Gambling advertising

Gambling advertising is the promotion of gambling by casinos, lotteries, bookmakers or other organisations that provide the opportunity to make bets. It is usually conducted through a variety of media or through sponsorship deals, particularly with sporting events or people.

Although not as highly regulated as tobacco advertising and alcohol advertising, in many countries there are strict laws about the way in which such services can be marketed.

Gaming operators often sponsor sporting events, sportspeople or television coverage. For example, Bet365 sponsor snooker players and the Channel 4 coverage of The 2005 Ashes was sponsored by Betfair, both being online betting sites. In other instances, they will do stunts to get public attention. For example, many professional boxers have been sponsored by GoldenPalace.com, and sport temporary Golden Palace tattoos on their bodies.

To get around advertising restrictions, some online poker companies advertise free-play sites, like PartyPoker.net and PokerStars.net, and sometimes even call these free sites "poker schools". These sites restrict access to those of legal age, even though it is not required.

In Australia, the principle gaming agency TAB (Totalisator Agency Board) ran advertisements on TV during the 1990s, under the tagline "The Adrenaline Bet" (a play on the company's name). Since then, the TAB has been restricted from all advertising on television and other media, but is still allowed to print race dividends in the newspaper.

From September 2007 the UK banned the advertising of around 1,000 gambling sites because they do not meet the guidelines dictated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.[1]

Channel 4 Racing enjoyed a turnaround in its financial fortunes after UK law was changed to allow bookmakers to advertise directly on TV; it now contains bookmakers' adverts placed within the programme, shortly before each race.

In 2018, the BBC found links to gambling websites on the junior sections of the websites of several football clubs.[2]

Notes
  1. BBC.co.uk: Gambling websites face advert ban
  2. Football clubs criticised for showing links to online gambling sites on junior pages of their websites - Jack Watson, The Independent, 8 September 2018
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.