UK To Tighten Up On Gambling Advertising?
Published: Thursday, November 10, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
UK TO TIGHTEN UP ON GAMBLING ADVERTISING?
Jowell says Gambling Commission will crack down on lawbreakers
Online gambling advertisers in the UK, be warned - if you're carrying gambling
ads offering incentives you could be in hot water with the UK Gambling Commission.
The Financial Times reported this week that Internet gambling companies spending
millions advertising in taxis and on the London Underground could face a government
crackdown for breaking the (advertising) law.
Many of the advertisers are based offshore but take bets from British gamblers
and are allowed to advertise due to being located beyond the UK's jurisdiction.
However, current laws forbid these firms from offering inducements, such as advertising
free entry to online poker competitions, offering to match initial stakes or indicating
the value of the pot or prize that may be won. And it is claimed that these restrictions
have been disregarded by many online poker companies and casino sites in advertisements
in newspapers, on the Tube and on the side of taxis.
The FT says that Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, will today promise that
law-breaking companies will be prosecuted. "It's clear that some adverts
have been breaking the law," she said. "I am not willing to turn a blind
eye to this and have agreed with the Gambling Commission that we should crack
down on advertisers and publishers who knowingly break the law."
The department of culture, media and sport and the Gambling Commission, the industry's
regulator, will write jointly to advertisers, publishers and internet casino operators
spelling out the government's position on the interpretation of the law. The letter
will say that the Gambling Commission will recommend prosecution to the Crown
Prosecution Service of advertisers and publishers who break the law.
It would seem that the action to some extent parallels the successful activity
in the USA of the Department of Justice, which is currently being challenged by
Casino City for its action in warning American advertising media that they may
be committing an offence in accepting online gambling adverts.
