UK watchdog updates norms on protecting under-18s in gambling and lottery advertising

New guidance is intended to make things clearer for gambling operators.

UK.- The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have updated their guidance on how operators and advertisers should protect under-18s in gambling and lottery advertising.

The changes aim to clarify the CAP Code following several violations identified since a stricter standard was introduced in 2022. That last update saw the CAP and BCAP replace the previous test of “particular” appeal to under under-18s (i.e., defined as having more appeal to minors than to adults) with a stricter test of “strong” appeal, which is defined as a reasonable case that creative content might unduly attract the attention of under-18s. 

The change brought more content within the scope of the Codes’ restrictions, particularly around sport, the use of personalities and material related to video games and online gaming. In the last three years, breaches of the rules have mainly involved social media posts, some of them involving athletes or former athletes. Some of these cases demonstrated confusion over interpretation of the norms for identifying if an ad had strong appeal to under 18s.

The CAP and BCAP say they have now updated the guidance following stakeholder input and a review of research to reflect what has been learned in practice.  

One of the key updates is a clarification on social media following. The guidance now states as a rule of thumb that at least a total of 100,000 social media follower accounts registered to people under-18, across social media platforms, is indicative of strong appeal. Marketers should consider this when considering whether a given personality is likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.

However, the emphasis is on “rule of thumb”. The ASA may deem a personality of strong appeal even if they have fewer than a total of 100,000 follower accounts registered to under-18s across platforms, or, in some cases, it may deem a personality not of strong appeal even if they have more than 100,000 under-18 registered follower accounts across platforms, depending on other factors relevant to their appeal to young people. The bodies advised that marketers should exercise particular caution in the absence of UK-specific data. 

Meanwhile, the code has a new Context section, explaining how appeal can vary depending on setting and execution. Further clarification on “adult-centric” and “non-adult-centric” sports, has also been added, setting out how these distinctions apply. “Adult-centric” refers to sports in which there is no evidence of significant participation or viewership amongst under-18s.

Gambling advertising loophole closed

Last month, the CAP closed a loophole that exempted advertising for overseas gambling operators. The wording of the advertising code had previously excluded the content marketing of licensed gambling operators that were not based in the UK.

The ASA said that as of September 1, the code for the regulation of online marketing now applies to all non-paid-for marketing communications targeted at UK consumers by advertisers who are subject to licensing conditions requiring compliance with the CAP Code, even if those advertisers do not have a UK-registered company address.

Recent ASA decisions on gambling adverts include upholding a complaint against an advert for the South African gambling operator Hollywoodbets. A 16 year old had complained that he was shown a banner ad for the brand on www.the-VFL.com, a website for Virtual Football League and EA SPORTS FC e-sport statistics website, on April 10.

The watchdog also upheld complaints against two advertisements for the sports betting app LEBOM. It says the ads on social media in April had encouraged socially irresponsible gambling behaviour as well as excessive drinking and, putting them breach of the CAP Code.

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See also: UK advertising watchdog closes loophole for overseas gambling operators