Online operators can now safely use sports people who are or appear to be under 25 years of age to promote bets on their UK sites, after advertising rules were amended.
The specific exemption for gambling websites from CAP Code rule 16.3.14 was announced this week, and followed an eight-week consultation on the proposed amendment which ran from November 2012.
The consultation had been prompted by the industry lobby group the Remote Gambling Association, which alerted CAP (or Committees of Advertising Practice), to the fact that the extension of CAP’s remit in March 2011 to cover online as well as external ads and communications actually “prevented the use of images of sportsmen and women who are or seem to be under the age of 25 to illustrate a bet offered on a sports betting website where they are the subject of the bet.”
Prior to the application of rule 16.3.14, betting websites had previously been allowed to feature under-25s to illustrate betting selections on a sports event, the Advertising Association and Gambling Commission pointed out during the consultation.
CAP confirmed in a statement that having publicly consulted on the proposed amendment, it was satifisfied that an exemption “to restore the status quo prior to CAP’s online remit extension” was justified, with the rule change coming into effect on 17 September.
Nine parties responded to the consultation, with six finding in favour of the proposed exemption for gambling websites, with three against. The RGA, Betfair, Gala Coral, the Advertising Authority and the Gambling Commission were unsurprisingly among those in favour, with Gambling Watch UK, Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs (QAAD) and The Methodist Church opposing.
Article written by Katy Stirland
