BGC tightens advertising standards
The BGC has recently announced changes to its gambling marketing guidelines.
The new changes will be introduced as part of the seventh edition of the IGRG responsible marketing guidelines, which are maintained and published by the industry organization. The main aim of the amendments will be to further ensure the safety of minors and expand the industry’s commitment to dedicating at least 20% of its radio and television adverts to safer gambling communications.
One of the main changes to the advertising standards will be the extension of the council’s 25+ social media advertising rule, which prohibits operators from targeting adults below the age of 25 in their marketing campaigns on various social media sites unless the platform of choice has a robust age verification system. The new change removes the aforementioned exception, meaning that all social media adverts will need to target people 25 and over, regardless of the reliability of the platform’s age verification systems.
The BGC has also previously introduced several other guidelines and measures to safeguard at-risk people from a variety of gambling harms, which include cool-off periods for land-based gambling terminals, enhanced age verification, and expanded funding for RET initiatives.
The amendments to the marketing code are scheduled to go into effect at the start of December this year.