Marketing regulation Archives

October 6, 2022

ATG chief slams bonuses as “embarrassing”

Hasse Lord Skarplöth, CEO of Swedish state-affiliated horse racing operator ATG, has said that bonuses are “embarrassing” and “drive gambling addiction” in a blistering critique of the common industry practice.

Bonuses are the practice of offering free or extra bets to consumers in order to attract or retain players to their platforms; with the method sometimes coming under criticism as an inducement that helps contribute to negative social responsibility outcomes.

Sweden has a stringent bonus regime, only allowing operators to offer one bonus per player at sign-up, worth no more than SEK100. This has been criticised by the Swedish Moderate Party – which have called for the rules to be reformed:

Hasse Lord Skarplöth

“This would make it easier for gaming companies to retain customers in the licensed market and have long-term relationships with the players, both of which increase consumer protection,” said the party.

Much of the industry has also opposed the bonus ban. However, as ..

September 27, 2022

Dutch minister defends sponsorship transition timeline

Dutch minister for legal protection, Franc Weerwind, has defended the timeline of the country’s sponsorship ban, amid further questioning on the subject from MPs.

In July, the Dutch government announced a number of measures to curb gambling advertising, following severe pressure from MPs. Many forms of ads will be banned from the start of next year, while gambling sponsorships in football will be banned from 2025.

When asked about the upcoming sponsorship ban, Weerwind said that the two-year adjustment period set out for the ban is a “reasonable” length of time.

“That is why a period of two years has been provided for the entry into force of a ban on sports sponsorship,” he said.

“In view of the serious importance of addiction prevention and the special importance of sport, I consider this a short, but reasonable period of time.”

He was questioned in parliament last week (23 September) by Mirjam Bikker, a member of political party ChristenUnie.

The questions mostly dealt with foo..

September 21, 2022

Betway fined £400,000 for marketing on “children’s webpages”

Online gaming operator Betway has been fined £408,915 ($463,178/ €467,776) by the Gambling Commission for marketing on “children’s webpages”.

The regulator determined that the Super Group-owned brand was marketing on the children’s pages of the West Ham United Football Club’s website, breaching Commission rules on socially responsible advertising.

The Commission said that the operator’s logo – which linked to its website – appeared on a page on the West Ham site which offered the option of printing off a picture of a teddy bear for children to colour in. It was visible on this page between 14 April 2020 and 6 November 2021.

Additionally, between 24 October 2021 and 15 November 2021, a similar logo that linked to Betway’s homepage was featured on the “Young Hammers at Home” page of the club’s site.

GC director of enforcement, Leanne Oxley, said the regulator had no reason to believe Betway was targeting children deliberately, but that the rule breach was still serious.

“Protecting ..

September 16, 2022

Rumour Truss will scrap gambling review may be bad news, analyst warns

Regulus Partners analyst Dan Waugh warned against the industry celebrating rumours new prime minister Liz Truss would abandon the Gambling Act review, instead arguing the news may be “worst outcome for industry”.

A report from Guardian chief political correspondent Jessica Elgot concerning general government plans to scrap a number of legislative proposals noted “rumours” that the Gambling Act review was among the proposals that could be axed.

Long-delayed process

The Gambling Act review has been in motion since late 2020, having initially been on the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019.

However, various delays have meant that a white paper outlining the government’s wish list for reforms has still not been published.

A major factor in the repeated delays appeared to have been changes in personnel, with four different ministers having overseen the legislation since it began.

Chris Philp, who at the time was responsible for the review, said in his July resignation letter that th..

September 2, 2022

Brazilian operators risk being punished for government inaction

iGB op-ed: Daniel O’Boyle argues that Brazil’s latest crackdown on sponsorship punishes operators that believed they had a clear pathway to launching before the winter.

Five matches into the season, the Premier League – and European club football in general – is well and truly back.

But the big moment of anticipation in the football world this year is still to come, when those domestic leagues will, of course, stop this winter, for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

However excited those in Europe may be, surely no nation can match Brazil in its enthusiasm for the World Cup.

So naturally, the event has long been the circled date on the calendar for the launch of regulated sports betting in Brazil.

Operators had surely hoped that the months in the build-up to the event would be a time to prepare to get their licensed operations up and running, putting the finishing touches in place to take bets on the World Cup.

But instead, it might be close to the exact opposite.

With the opening match n..

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Tag: Marketing regulation