The UK to Ban Betting Ads Featuring Sports Stars

The latest edition of the Fifa World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar in November and December 2022. The entire football world is exhilarated by the fact that they get to experience the biggest sporting event raw and live. At this juncture, the  UK’s Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has come up with some modifications to its laws ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup. These alterations would come into play on 1st October 2022 before the start of the World Cup in Qatar. The altered law states that children should not be attracted by gambling adverts and the youth should only be associated with youth culture rather than being drawn into betting adverts. 

The new measures taken by the CAP include restrictions for betting companies on the exhibition of teams’ kits and stadiums through advertisements. They are also not allowed to share any video game content. But, the biggest pitfall for betting sites is the ban of advertisements featuring famous sports stars and tv and other social media influencers. The advertising medium and influencers are closely related especially when it comes to football. The advertisements were highly influential in the growth of these apps and websites in the UK. There are several sterling websites to bet football in the UK that are shocked by the regulations taken by CAP ahead of the World Cup.

The CAP made this ordinance with the intention to mitigate the under 18 aged children being attracted to the betting advertisements. The gambling industry is highly influenced by many sporting events and football being the largest of them all, these regulations have made a surprise snag for them. All the gambling and betting industries in the UK will not be allowed to feature famous footballers and other individuals related to sports including influencers from social media and television to feature in any of the advertisements for these betting forms that encourage betting on football. All these rules are introduced in order to protect children under 18 who are vulnerable to betting. These advertisements that feature famous people draw more attention among the under-aged people to the betting activity.  These alterations that were made among adverts mean that celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho, Michael Owen, and Harry Redknapp, would not be allowed to feature in any of the betting adverts in the UK. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which is the UK’s advertising governing body says that children in the UK are used to watching more than two advertisements per week on average that are exclusively based on batting firms. 

The stern revised CAP rule, which states that betting advertisements should not “be considered to be of great attraction to youngsters and small individuals, notably by mirroring or being connected with contemporary society,” is considered a pivotal move to safeguard the fragile. CAP director Shahriar Coupal said: “The era of betting advertisements displaying sports personalities, gameplay graphics, and other stuff that is very appealing to under-18s are over.” By prohibiting these methods, our new regulations usher in a modern phase of betting advertisements that are more tailored to the mature population they can reach and more appropriate for the age-restricted goods they are marketing.”

“While this may not appear to be instantly noteworthy, its impact – especially in a World Cup year – will be profound.” By prohibiting these methods, our new regulations usher in a modern phase of betting advertisements that are more tailored to the adult population they can reach and more appropriate for the age-restricted goods they are marketing.”

The laws refer to any form of media, including broadcasting, internet, and print media, as well as banners and posters.