Guardian Media Group bans gambling advertising

The UK media group will no longer accept any advertising except for lotteries.

UK.- The Guardian Media Group has announced that it will no longer accept gambling advertising in any of its media assets. That includes its flagship Guardian newspaper and website.

Chief executive Anna Bateson announced the decision in an open editorial article titled, “All bets are off: Why the Guardian has rejected gambling advertising”. She said that the Guardian had been reporting on the negative impacts of the gambling industry for several years and had worked to keep gambling harms on the public agenda.

However, she said the group had become concerned about the availability of gambling apps across the Guardian’s main readership geographies – the UK, US and Australia. She noted that the latter country has the highest annual gambling losses at AU$ 25bn (£13bn).

She said: “We think now is the right time to say no to gambling advertising on all Guardian platforms, effective globally from 15 June 2023.”

The policy will cover all print adverts in the Guardian, Guardian Weekly and The Observer and online advertisements on the Guardian’s website, app, audio, video and newsletters.

“The policy covers all forms of gambling advertising, including sports betting, online casinos and scratchcards,” Bateson said. “Given the different nature of lotteries, we do not propose to include lottery advertising in this policy.” 

She added that she saw gambling as a “matter of personal freedom” but that there were ethical concerns about the “pervasive nature of retargeted digital advertisements that trap a portion of sports fans in an addictive cycle”.

The UK government has held off from introducing tougher restrictions on gambling advertising. The Netherlands and Belgium are to introduce blanket bans on untargeted ads on July 1.