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An avalanche of World Cup gambling ads causes concern in the UK

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It has been raining goals in the World Cup, especially for England. And it has been raining gambling ads on TV channels that broadcast the World Cup football matches.

It has been found that almost all ad breaks during matches feature at least one gambling advertisement, sometimes two.

Gambling firms themselves expressed concerns over the large number of ads. Still, they see no change to this, the government alters the law. At present, TV channels can show gambling commercials after 9 pm or during live sports broadcast.

Betfred, Skybet, Betfair, BetVictor, Paddy Power, Bet365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral are the biggest advertisers in the commercial break this World Cup.

The research analysed 11 games broadcast on ITV, each game contained six ad breaks. 62 of the 66 breaks contained one or more gambling advertisements.

Future problems

Matt Zarb-Cousin from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling wants gambling advertisements to be restricted during football games.

He said: “I think it’s inappropriate before the watershed because children are seeing them… the response from the public is inevitable and we’re storing up problems from the future.”

Mr Zarb-Cousin was a problem gambler and says his problem was exacerbated by gambling advertisements: “Research from Australia found that children, when they’re watching the football and they see the ads, they think you have to have a bet to enjoy the game. Australia then went on to ban the ads during sporting events.”

Complaints jump

Viewers of the World Cup on ITV have expressed surprise on social media about the amount of gambling advertisements this week, but ITV said there were no more commercials this tournament than in previous ones.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says they have received complaints this year and they always see a jump in complaints during big sports tournaments.

But the watchdog only upholds complaints about the content of commercials, not the volume of them.

Craig Jones from the ASA said: “The gambling market was liberalised in the mid-2000s, the one area we don’t have control over is the volume of the gambling ads, but where the ASA does kick in is the content and content of the ads.”

Leprechauns and wizards

There are strict rules surrounding gambling advertising. Adverts must not appeal to children, portray gambling as seductive, or suggest gambling can be a solution to financial problems and get you out of debt.

Gambling companies regularly fall foul of the rules. This week the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint against Coral for three games that featured cartoon characters of leprechauns and wizards.

The regulator said the games and marketing materials could appeal to children.

Over the past 12 months Foxy Bingo, William Hill, Ladbrokes, 888, and Casumo have all been fined for breaking advertising rules.

“Widespread unease”

The advertising watchdog recently introduced stricter rules banning gambling companies telling customers to “bet now” and ambiguous offers of free bets.

Craig Jones said: “You used to get kind of, tough guy content in ads where the message was ‘bet now’, ‘these are the odds’, ‘get your bet in quickly.’ We recently toughened the rules because we think that preys on people’s impulse control and anything that trivialises gambling or underplays risk is also the wrong side of the line.”

Some gambling companies say they would like to see restrictions on the amount of gambling advertising shown on television.

William Hill told Radio 4’s You and Yours it would like to see greater controls.

Gillian Wilmot, chairman of the Senet Group, a body set up by bookmakers to address concerns about problem gambling and advertising said: “There is widespread unease in the gambling industry at the volume and density of gambling adverts around live sport, but it is difficult to reduce this in a competitive market unless government decides to act.”

The Department for Culture Media and sport said: “We have set out a package of measures to strengthen rules around gambling advertising.”

“This includes responsible gambling messages appearing on screen throughout gambling ads and a multi-million pound campaign that will promote responsible gambling to be launched later this year. There are strict controls in place to ensure children are not targeted by gambling adverts.”

Source: BBC

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Industry News

MiFinity to Showcase Innovative iFrame at SiGMA 2024

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MiFinity, a leading global payment services provider, is excited to announce its participation at SiGMA 2024, held in Malta from 12 to 14 November. Visitors can find MiFinity at Stand 2012, where the team will be showcasing its award winning PayAnyBank service, and the latest version of the MiFinity iFrame and demonstrating how it helps iGaming operators acquire and retain players with a seamless, flexible payment experience.

Paul Kavanagh, CEO of MiFinity, commented: “SiGMA is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our latest developments and engage directly with the iGaming community. The MiFinity iFrame is a game-changer for operators looking to streamline their payment processes and enhance the player experience. We look forward to demonstrating its capabilities and connecting with both existing and prospective partners.”

MiFinity’s Business Development and Account Management teams will be on-site to discuss the new iFrame features in-depth and highlight how MiFinity can optimise payments for iGaming operators. They will also be showcasing MiFinity’s innovative suite of payment solutions developed specifically for the iGaming sector, including MiFinity PayAnyBank — a powerful tool that enables operators to send payouts directly to players’ bank accounts in multiple countries and currencies, enhancing the user experience with faster, more localised transactions and reduced FX fees.

The MiFinity Affiliates team will also be available to explain the benefits of MiFinity’s affiliate program, which offers some of the highest commissions in the industry and unique promotional opportunities via the MiFinity Bonus website.

Meet the MiFinity team at Stand 2012 at SiGMA 2024 to learn more about the company’s solutions and how they are transforming the iGaming payment landscape. Pre-book a meeting with the MiFinity team or drop by the stand during the event to explore how MiFinity can support your business.

Book a meeting here > outlook.office365.com/book/[email protected]/

 

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Industry News

Dutch Mental Health Care Calls for Total Ban on Online Gambling Advertising

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The Dutch mental health service is calling for a total ban on online gambling advertisements in the Netherlands.

Although a ban on untargeted gambling advertisements and a ban on the use of role models has been in effect since 2023, a recent research by KRO-NCRV’s Pointer shows that (illegal) gambling companies and sports tipster platforms are still enticing young people via social media such as TikTok and Snapchat.

By using influencers and terms like “free money”, they try to attract a young audience and thus lower the threshold to start gambling. This concerns both legal online casinos and online casinos that do not have a license in the Netherlands. The Gaming Authority has started an investigation based on Pointer’s findings.

Pointer’s research shows that part of the gambling industry deliberately targets young people who are often susceptible to promises such as “fast money” and the influence of role models. Ruth Peetoom, chair of the Dutch mental health service, compares this approach to that of the tobacco industry, where similar marketing strategies were used to get young people to smoke.

Despite the existing advertising ban, gambling companies continue to explore the boundaries of the law, according to Peetoom. The Dutch mental health and addiction care associations in the Netherlands therefore push for a total ban on online gambling advertising and stricter rules for the duty of care of gambling providers.

With the call for a total ban, the Dutch mental health care sector hopes to prevent further normalisation of gambling behaviour among young people and to protect them from the temptation and consequences of online gambling.

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Compliance Updates

UKGC: Market impact data on gambling behaviour – operator data to Oct 2024

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UKGC: Market impact data on gambling behaviour - operator data to Oct 2024
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The Gambling Commission has published further data on the gambling industry in Great Britain.

This data, sourced from operators, reflects the period between March 2020 and September 2024, inclusive, and covers online and in-person gambling covering Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets.

Comparison should not be made with the industry statistics dataset, as this dataset may include free bets and bonuses and does not include data from all operators.

This release compares Quarter 2 (Q2) of financial year 2024 to 2025, with Q2 of 2023 to 2024, looking at how the market has changed in comparative periods over a year.

The latest operator data shows:

  • online total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) in Q2 (July to September) was ÂŁ1.32 billion, an increase of 11 percent from Q2 the previous year. The overall number of total bets and/or spins increased 12 percent Year-on-Year (YoY), reaching a new peak for the third consecutive quarter of 25.2 billion, whilst the average monthly active accounts2 in the quarter increased 8 percent
  • real event betting GGY increased by 6 percent YoY to ÂŁ453 million. The number of bets decreased 10 percent, while the average monthly active accounts in Q2 increased 9 percent
  • slots GGY increased 16 percent to ÂŁ680 million YoY. The number of spins increased 13 percent to 23.3 billion while the average monthly active accounts in Q2 increased 16 percent to 4.4 million per month. Although this is a new peak for GGY in this dataset for the slots vertical, it should be noted that one operator has re-classified some of its products into the slot vertical this quarter, which has had an impact on the vertical data
  • the number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by 9 percent YoY to 10 million. The average session length remained at 17 minutes. Approximately 6.1 percent of all sessions lasted more than one hour compared to 6.6 percent in Q2 the previous year. The number of spins per session has fallen from 147 to 142 YOY, whilst the GGY per session has fallen from ÂŁ4.20 to ÂŁ4.13 in the equivalent timeframe
  • LBO GGY decreased by 1 percent to ÂŁ533 million in Q2 2024 to 2025, compared to the same quarter last year, while the number of total bets and spins decreased by 0.1 percent to 3.1 billion.
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