Britain’s largest gambling firms will remove all TV and radio advertising for games and products during the lockdown, the industry body said today.
Existing TV and radio advertising slots are now due to be replaced by safer gambling messages, donated to charities or removed from broadcast for at least six weeks.
It comes a week after the Government wrote to gambling firms to ask them for regular updates on how they are tackling problem gambling during the lockdown.
Britain’s largest gambling firms will remove all TV and radio advertising for games (file image)
The Betting and Gaming Council said it has already seen a drop in advertising spend – and TV sport and casino advertisements falling by up to 10 per cent.
The organisation said the measure also comes in the face of a drop in online revenue of up to 30 per cent and total member revenue down by up to 60 per cent.
The London-based BGC said that its members currently account for around 50 per cent of all gambling advertising on TV and radio.
It also called on the other major TV and radio gambling operators such as the National Lottery, society lotteries and amb other bingo operators to drop their adverts.
The Betting and Gaming Council said it has seen a drop in advertising spend (file image)
The BGC said all operators will look to implement the change ‘as rapidly as possible’ but no later than May 7, the day on which the lockdown is due to be reviewed.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-b0cdffe0-8890-11ea-a010-552d88c548e7" website firms will stop all TV and radio advertising in lockdown
