In recent years, the British gaming industry has undergone several reforms, but industry critics have pointed out that its biggest problem, the regulation of advertising, remains unresolved. According to the Guardian, social pressure to restrict the advertising of the lottery continues to increase.
In the current context, there is a growing proliferation of lottery advertising in the United Kingdom, reflecting the scale and expansion of the local lottery industry. While the New Deal has introduced player protection measures, such as lower investment limits and statutory industry taxes (for the financing of problem gambling research, education and treatment projects), advertising regulations have largely maintained their originals. While the British Super Club had previously agreed to ban the display of the Lottery logo on the front of the player’s jersey, critics had criticized the move on the surface, with the most visible advertisements spreading over the stadium fence and inside the stadium. Operators have also committed themselves to a “stop-off” to mid-sentry, which means that no advertisements should be placed in sports events before 9 p.m., but regulatory gaps remain significant.
The latest polls published in The Guardian triggered a shock: a survey commissioned by the “Stop Gambling Advertising Campaign” and conducted by the non-profit organization “More in Common” showed that 70 per cent of the British public supported stricter restrictions on lottery advertising, 27 per cent of which advocated a total ban on gambling advertising. A further 65 per cent of the respondents felt that the lottery industry needed to be subject to stricter regulation. In his report, Ian Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, stressed that “the proposal for a strict control of lottery advertising is strongly supported by cross-party voters, which is essential for the protection of the next generation of British citizens”. The Director-General of Sports Organizations, Will Prohaska, echoed this view: “Politic polls reveal the strong will of the public to protect children from gambling advertising.”
Recent British regulatory and tax policies have put the lottery industry under pressure, and new restrictions have been met with strong industry resistance. The British Lottery Commission maintains: “The harsh policy of gambling is not only unhelpful to the public, but rather encourages the black market. When the legal market is weakened, illegal operators will take advantage of it.” It also argued that current advertising was in line with strict norms, aimed at promoting rational participation and the promotion of safety tools, and rejected the claim that “the industry spends more than Pound1 billion a year on advertising”, stating that the actual amount is much lower. It is interesting to see that opinion polls reveal opposition to the lottery. Of the data cited in the Guardian, nearly half of the respondents did not care about the pressures faced by the industry and expressed their desire to recede.
