According to new figures that show a sustained increase in the value of advertising aimed at wooing potential gamblers, betting firms have spent nearly half a billion pounds on TV adverts since 2012 in the UK.
According to the figures compiled for the Guardian by media analysts Nielsen, compared with £81.2m in 2012, companies offering sports betting, bingo, online casino games and poker spent £118.5m on TV spots in 2015.
The industry has shelled out a combined £456m since 2012 denoted by the 46% rise in annual spending over the period. The figure rises to £631m when the £169m spent by lottery firms is taken into account.
According to new figures that show a sustained increase in the value of advertising aimed at wooing potential gamblers, betting firms have spent nearly half a billion pounds on TV adverts since 2012.
Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP for Swansea East who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on fixed-odds betting terminals, said: “it’s evident that the gambling industry is feeling the need to up its game.”
Fears about the number of gambling adverts on UK television were expressed by her while speaking to the delegates at a conference on gambling addiction held in Cardiff last month.
“This could be the effect of the recent European football tournament but it’s a worrying trend nonetheless. Gambling remains a serious social blight in this country but the government still insists on light-touch regulation,” she said.
The industry has been put on course for a record £123.4m in 2016 calculated on the basis of figures for 2016 to date that show that £51.4m had been spent on TV gambling ads by the end of May. In reality as bookmakers seek to capitalise on a frenzy of betting linked to the Euro 2016 football tournament and the EU referendum, the figure is likely to be even higher by the end of the year.
Since the Gambling Act came into force in 2007 in the UK, the amount of TV advertising promoting gambling has continued to grow unabated, the research suggests. The door to adverts for sports betting, online casinos and poker was opened up by the act which was introduced by Tony Blair’s administration. Advertisements related to the National Lottery, bingo and the football pools were permitted earlier.
The industry inserted a clause into the code of conduct that allows them an exemption for sporting events such as Eurp 2016 even though a voluntary code adopted by the gambling industry prohibits advertising for sports betting, casino and poker before the 9pm watershed to protect children.
Media regulator Ofcom revealed in 2013 that in the six years after the sector was deregulated, the number of gambling ads on TV had risen sevenfold from 234,000 to 1.4m.
Up from £11.2bn in the year to the end of March last year, gamblers last a record £12.6bn in the year to the end of September 2015, according to separate figures released by the Gambling Commission last month.
The sheer volume of advertising risked fuelling gambling addiction, said Derek Webb, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
“There are a lot of problems with this and we’re nowhere close to understanding it all. They [gambling firms] need to keep acquiring new players because the nature of it is that they [customers] go broke, or lose whatever they can afford and decide not to play anymore,” he said.
(Source:www.theguardian.com)
According to the figures compiled for the Guardian by media analysts Nielsen, compared with £81.2m in 2012, companies offering sports betting, bingo, online casino games and poker spent £118.5m on TV spots in 2015.
The industry has shelled out a combined £456m since 2012 denoted by the 46% rise in annual spending over the period. The figure rises to £631m when the £169m spent by lottery firms is taken into account.
According to new figures that show a sustained increase in the value of advertising aimed at wooing potential gamblers, betting firms have spent nearly half a billion pounds on TV adverts since 2012.
Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP for Swansea East who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on fixed-odds betting terminals, said: “it’s evident that the gambling industry is feeling the need to up its game.”
Fears about the number of gambling adverts on UK television were expressed by her while speaking to the delegates at a conference on gambling addiction held in Cardiff last month.
“This could be the effect of the recent European football tournament but it’s a worrying trend nonetheless. Gambling remains a serious social blight in this country but the government still insists on light-touch regulation,” she said.
The industry has been put on course for a record £123.4m in 2016 calculated on the basis of figures for 2016 to date that show that £51.4m had been spent on TV gambling ads by the end of May. In reality as bookmakers seek to capitalise on a frenzy of betting linked to the Euro 2016 football tournament and the EU referendum, the figure is likely to be even higher by the end of the year.
Since the Gambling Act came into force in 2007 in the UK, the amount of TV advertising promoting gambling has continued to grow unabated, the research suggests. The door to adverts for sports betting, online casinos and poker was opened up by the act which was introduced by Tony Blair’s administration. Advertisements related to the National Lottery, bingo and the football pools were permitted earlier.
The industry inserted a clause into the code of conduct that allows them an exemption for sporting events such as Eurp 2016 even though a voluntary code adopted by the gambling industry prohibits advertising for sports betting, casino and poker before the 9pm watershed to protect children.
Media regulator Ofcom revealed in 2013 that in the six years after the sector was deregulated, the number of gambling ads on TV had risen sevenfold from 234,000 to 1.4m.
Up from £11.2bn in the year to the end of March last year, gamblers last a record £12.6bn in the year to the end of September 2015, according to separate figures released by the Gambling Commission last month.
The sheer volume of advertising risked fuelling gambling addiction, said Derek Webb, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
“There are a lot of problems with this and we’re nowhere close to understanding it all. They [gambling firms] need to keep acquiring new players because the nature of it is that they [customers] go broke, or lose whatever they can afford and decide not to play anymore,” he said.
(Source:www.theguardian.com)
