Advertising restrictions continue to pile on for the gambling industry in the U.K. The Committee of Advertising Practice has announced new rules to keep gambling ads away from kids, The Guardian reports.
The two new rules are simple enough. First, gambling ads can’t be on any website or computer game that children are likely to play. With the wealth of demographic data and targeting tools available to advertisers, they are expected to make every best effort to keep their content away from users who are under the age of 18.
Secondly, gambling advertisers can no longer use celebrities in their ads, as well as any person who appears to be under the age of 25. The thinking is using popular or youthful people in ads has an added effect on impressionable young minds.
The rules go into effect at the beginning of April 2019. It will be interesting to see how they apply the new standard, as what content appeals to young audiences could be a matter of debate. YouTube stars, for example, can be quite popular with young teens while offering fairly adult content matter, with gambling sponsorships supporting them.
The new rules help advertisers better understand what they can get away with. Tombola recently got in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority for their add in the “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here” app. Now they know not to do that, and so does everyone else.
As The Guardian points out, many footballers will now be shut out of gambling sponsorship deals, as they’ll be perceived to be too popular with the younger demographics. Perhaps even Rhodri Giggs might lose out on a deal or two as well.
The efforts of the both the Committee of Advertising Practices and the Advertising Standards Authority, who collaborated on these new rules, appear to be working. According to a recent report, kids in the U.K. are seeing 37.3% less gambling ads than they would have even a few years ago.
