A famous businessman once announced: “I know half my advertising spend is wasted. The problem is that I don’t know which half”.

This is a problem that mainly afflicted TV advertising but has now been largely solved for many businesses by the shift to online marketing. It’s now easy to trace which online ads generate the most response, as well as diving down into what respondents do or spend, as a result of seeing them.

However, TV advertising remains a powerful tool in the marketer’s armoury, as gambling operators know only too well.

It’s estimated that the UK gambling industry spends around £230 million a year on TV ads, around 15 per cent of its total marketing budget.

A number of bodies including the Advertising Standards Authority and the UK’s Gambling Commission are responsible for ensuring that all broadcast advertising adheres to a strict set of guidelines. The former is also responsible for investigating complaints which, if upheld, can result in the offending ad being taken off air.

Like alcohol, gambling is subjected to a particularly stringent set of rules about what is and isn’t permissible, rules which some feel are too extreme.

The rules as they stand

These restrictions fall into six main categories. Briefly, gambling advertising is forbidden from:

1. Showing, encouraging or supporting the sorts of gambling behaviour that can be shown to be socially irresponsible or which is likely to lead to financial, emotional or social harm to those involved in it or to those around them.

2. Exploiting children, young people or the vulnerable by taking unfair advantage of their inexperience, lack of knowledge, aspirations or credulity.

3. Making any kind of suggestion that gambling can provide financial solutions or is an easy way to make money.

4. Suggesting that people who gamble might enjoy more sexual success or become more attractive to other people.

5. Being designed to appeal to children or young people by using youth culture or celebrities popular with the young.

6. Showing anyone who is under 25, or looks like they’re under 25, indulging in any kind of gambling-related activity.

While these would seem to be water-tight regulations, there is still a feeling from some quarters that they don’t go quite far enough. It has been expressed in the past that young people may be adversely affected by seeing advertising by gambling companies.

While it’s acknowledged that this is more of an issue for online activity, it led to a white paper being produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in April 2023.

This came up with a number of recommendations covering many areas. These included providing more strongly-worded warning messages about the dangers of problem gambling to increasing taxes that then can be used to fund research into gambling habits.

The whistle-to-whistle ban

One area that has grown hugely in the last few years is sports betting. This has meant that more and more types of bets have been made possible, including those made while a game is in progress.

It has also meant that the halftime break was a prime spot for advertisers offering online sports betting. However, sport is followed by many young people, including children, who would therefore be exposed to gambling advertising.

To counter this, a ban has been brought in to prevent any gambling operator from advertising over the period from five minutes before any game starts until five minutes after it’s finished, but only when the game is being played before 9pm.

Gone too far?

There are some who feel that this, along with the other rules around gambling advertising on TV, is too draconian. No doubt this includes many in the advertising industry which, although projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2026, is always looking for more opportunities for growth.

The gambling industry itself has sometimes maintained that its own self-regulation should be enough to keep players safe. For example, many players find where they are going to play via casino comparison sites. These are independent sites that already vet the online casinos that they feature to ensure that they operate within the law.

Because they are such a trusted method of new player recruitment, all online casinos want to appear on comparison sites. So, it’s obviously in their best interests to follow all guidelines regarding advertising.

It can also be argued that gambling operators are acutely aware of their own responsibilities not to step over the line if they don’t want even more restrictive rules put into force.

It’s not yet known what the UK’s new Labour government’s stance is going to be on gambling, especially as it was the previous one’s actions back in 2005 that led to a huge transformation of the industry.

So, as with many aspects of the new regime, this is yet another area in which we’ll simply have to wait and see.