Ladbrokes “supportive” of pre-watershed gambling ad changes

Ladbrokes Coral said it would consider further restrictions on pre-watershed advertising regulations.

Speaking to iGamingBusiness.com, the company’s marketing director Alexis Zamboglou admitted there needs to be “an increased focus on protecting the vulnerable”.

Zamboglou was speaking after it emerged that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had seen a spike in complaints about gambling advertising over the course of the FIFA World Cup, with many concerned about saturation. 

Almost one in five adverts shown during World Cup broadcasts were for gambling companies, according to a Guardian report.

While current guidelines stipulate that gambling adverts are allowed during pre-watershed broadcasts of live sport events, Zamboglou said Ladbrokes Coral would be “supportive” of changes.

Zamboglou told iGamingBusiness.com: “We… feel there needs to be an increased focus on protecting the vulnerable during pre-watershed advertising and would be supportive of a move to do so, so long as this was part of an industry wide initiative.”

Following the Guardian’s World Cup advertising report, GambleAware chief executive Marc Etches said there were increasing concerns about sports betting becoming “normalised” for children.

Etches said in a statement: “In the absence of evidence, the concern is that this is an adult activity and young people are growing up with it being normalised.

“They get exposed to it on television around sports, advertising online and gambling activities within [computer] games.

“It seems to have gone too far. And for young people growing up there just seems to be a stronger and stronger affiliation between the two [gambling and sport] and I’m wary of that.”

While there may be concerns from some quarters about advertising saturation during the World Cup, Zamboglou said Ladbrokes and Coral’s commercials “enhanced” coverage of the tournament for sports fans.

Zamboglou told iGamingBusiness.com: “The key KPI our TV campaigns for both Ladbrokes and Coral was to allow or brands to advertise the value of our products, services and customer experience during the noisiest four weeks of advertising for quite some time.

“Sports betting is enjoyed by millions of people across the UK every year and we wanted to make sure that this great sports entertainment product enhanced sports fans’ experience of the World Cup, without diluting our strong commitment to responsible gambling.”