UK Gambling on Pace for Record £123.4m TV Advertising Spending

According to figures through May 2016, the UK gambling industry has spent £51.4 million ($67.8) on TV gambling ads. If things continue at this pace, the industry will spend a record £123.4 million on 2016 TV gambling advertising.

Since 2012, a combination of UK bingo, online poker, casino, and sports betting sites have spent a combined £456 million on TV ads. Over one-third of this amount was spent last year, when betting firms shelled out £118.5 million on TV spots, compared to £81.2 million in 2012.

“It’s evident that the gambling industry is feeling the need to up its game,” said Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP for Swansea East. “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.”

The Guardian reports that TV gambling advertising has continued to grow every year since the Gambling Act was signed into effect in 2007. Introduced under Tony Blair’s istration, the Gambling Act allowed for online casinos, sports betting sites and poker rooms to on TV. Prior to this, only the National lottery, bingo companies, and football pools could do so.

The only safeguard against excessive ads is a rule that casino, sports betting, and poker sites can’t before 9am to protect children. However, this rule doesn’t apply during major sports events like the Euro 2016.

Media regulator Ofcom released 2013 stats that show how the number of TV gambling ads has increased sevenfold from 234,000 to 1.4 million after the Gambling Act.

This increase in gambling ads coincides with figures from the Gambling Commission, showing that gamblers lost £12.6 billion in 2015, up from £11.2 billion the previous year.

Derek Webb, who works for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, believes that the increased number of ads raises the chances of gambling addiction.

“There are a lot of problems with this and we’re nowhere close to understanding it all,” said Webb. “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.”

Webb also explained that the rule about casinos, sports betting, and poker sites not advertising before 9am isn’t effective.

“Bingo can before the watershed but that bingo site might also own a casino site,” explained Webb. “Once you’re on the bingo site, you might be induced to click through to something else and then you’re on the slot machines all of a sudden.”

Strangely enough, complaints about betting firms have decreased ever since the number of TV ads began skyrocketing. Statistics from the Advertising Standards Authority (FSA) show that 1,152 complaints were lodged in 2012, but the number has fallen to 956 in 2015.