The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) urges social media companies to cooperate with them with regards to putting a limit on marketing seen by problem gamblers and young people.
The standards body plans to implement new measures for online advertisements, but is being undermined by social media platforms.
BGC Chief Executive Michael Dugher has sent a letter to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer MP, asking her to put pressure on social media networks as part of the UK government's drive to tackle problem gambling amongst, in particular, the young and vulnerable. As the Gambling White Paper recently launched, Frazer proposed measures that focused specifically at the group under age 25.
In his letter, Dugher described that an earlier BGC drive saw social media brands allow the people to opt-out from receiving gaming and betting adverts.
However, members say they would need further cooperation to deliver other measures, mainly for those who have signed up to the industry self-exclusion tool GAMSTOP.
The industry aims for a ‘marketing suppression scheme' which can potentially stop 300,000 individuals registered to GAMSTOP from receiving direct marketing on social media.
In the letter addressed to Frazer, Dugher said:
"This is impossible to achieve without the cooperation of the social media platforms themselves. This is a sensible solution, which BGC members are keen on implementing, but we cannot do so without the cooperation of social media platforms.
I would urge you to help on this matter by calling on social media platforms to finally cooperate with the BGC and make the relevant functionality available, so we can help protect the most vulnerable.
I would also like social media platforms to limit the frequency of ads to specific age groups, something members cannot do without cooperation."
BGC members have already taken major steps to ensure only those legally allowed to bet can see online marketing for regulated betting and gaming products.
Currently, all social media advertising must be targeted at those aged 25+, unless platforms can provide evidence to confirm the accuracy of their targeting to over 18s.
A new BGC code of conduct was also launched, placing a ban on football clubs using their social media accounts (which are highly popular with youngsters) to post direct marketing on betting odds and sites.
Source: https://bettingandgamingcouncil.com/news/betting-industry-urges-greater-cooperation
