Gambling Guidance

26 September 2008

CAP and BCAP have launched new guidance for gambling advertisements.  The guidance focuses on three clauses common to the TV, radio and non-broadcast Codes, which state that marketing communications should not: suggest that gambling can provide an escape from personal, professional or educational problems such as loneliness or depression; suggest that solitary gambling is preferable to social gambling; exploit cultural beliefs or traditions about gambling or luck.

In February this year, CAP looked back over the first six months of the newly liberalised regime for gambling advertisements, noting no proliferation of irresponsible advertising, as some had feared, and a scarcity of ASA investigations and adjudications against gambling advertisements.  Also in February, the ASA published a Compliance Survey and found that 99% of gambling advertisements in broadcast and non-broadcast media in September and October 2007 complied with the Codes.  Only seven of 784 advertisements breached the Codes.

But CAP warned then that the industry should not rest on its laurels.  Since February, the ASA has investigated six gambling advertisements and upheld complaints against three. Paddy Power, William Hill and Littlewoods

Although some factors, such as appeal to children or linking sensitive products with sexual success, are relatively simple to assess and apply across different product sectors, CAP recognises that, in seeking to protect the vulnerable, some rules draw a fine line between the acceptable promotion of gambling as a leisure activity and the unacceptable depicting, condoning or encouraging of irresponsible gambling behaviour.  CAP and BCAP have consulted leading interpreters of the Code from the CAP Copy Advice team, Clearcast, the RACC and the IPA and have produced guidance on three clauses for which we believe the line can be more clearly drawn.

For example, the guidance makes clear that, although the gambling clauses are not intended to prevent advertisements from portraying solitary gambling online, advertisements that feature an adult losing track of time, shunning the company  of others, retreating into private fantasy or engaging in secretive gambling are likely to breach the general principle that advertisements should not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that is socially irresponsible or could lead to financial, social or emotional harm.  Although the guidance is based on general principles, that point was well brought out in the recent ASA adjudication on a complaint about a campaign for William Hill.

Read the Guidance in full

Advertisers who are considering launching a non-broadcast campaign for a betting or gaming service are encouraged to consult the CAP Copy Advice team for independent, confidential and expert advice. Those launching a broadcast campaign will have to run their ads by Clearcast (formerly the BACC) or the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) before the ads can be aired.