CAP to introduce ban on use of celebrities in gambling ads

The UK Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) is set to introduce a ban on the use of sports personalities and celebrities in gambling ads as an attempt to clamp down on advertising which targets underage audiences, due to the UK struggling to protect their consumers

The CAP, a regulatory body responsible for setting standards and regulations for safe advertising, are introducing a set of new rules after public consultation on the matter. These new proposals will have a huge impact on betting and gaming ads that make use of sport personalities, reality TV stars and social media influencers. 

These new rules will see recent ads featuring the likes of José Mourinho with Paddy Power and Harry Redknapp with BetVictor being banned from our screens, resulting in the biggest overhaul of the nation’s Gambling Act since 2005.

The main change from the current rules is that if any gambling ad appeals strongly to underage viewers, then that ad will immediately be banned, regardless of how it is viewed by adults. Whereas, under current regulation, a gambling ad will be banned if it is more likely to target children rather than adults. 

Advertising Measures Urged by GambleAware Research 

These new advertising rules are the result of a recently conducted research that was commissioned by GambleAware. The results of this study found that there is more potential for gambling ads to target underage audiences rather than adults. 

The CAP further explained that the majority of ads featuring world renowned celebrities will be banned unless these ads solely target adults rather than appeal to the underage audience. With these new measures set to come into place, the CAP has decided against a blanket ban on gambling advertisements in the UK, due to the lack of evidence to justify such a drastic move. 

Furthermore, betting and casino-style product advertisements will not be allowed to feature anywhere where there is more than 25% of the audience under the age of 18. The CAP believe these restrictions are more than appropriate, although there are calls from GambleAware for further tougher restrictions in relation to the publication and airing of gambling ads. 

In addition to these regulations, after mounting pressure from anti-gambling campaign groups, UK-licensed gambling operators agreed to a whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling adverts which comes into effect five minutes before live events and ends five minutes after. This ban was aimed to help protect underage audiences from being excessively exposed to gambling ads, resulting in 97% of children not being exposed to gambling ads.