UK ad watchdog finds further drop in children’s exposure to gambling ads

The Advertising Standards Authority has published its latest report.

UK.- The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has identified a further drop in the exposure of children to gambling advertising on television across the four nations of the United Kingdom. Its latest report on age-restricted ads found the exposure of under 16s to gambling ads has fallen by two-fifths since monitoring began in 2010. 

The rate of exposure to TV gambling ads in 2023 was 1.8 ads per week. That compares to 3 ads per week in 2010. Children saw one TV ad for gambling for every six seen by adults. The ASA noted that the rate was lowest in England. In Scotland, it was notably higher 2.3 ads per week.

Encouraging results

The ASA said: “While the continued decline in children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads is encouraging, we know that a lot of that is down to changing media habits, which is why we are also continuing to conduct specific project work looking at what ads they are seeing online.

“Projects like Exposure Reports, our proactive monitoring sweeps using world-leading Avatar technology, and the cutting-edge 100 Children Report, help us ensure that our regulation is thorough and effective in providing appropriate protections for children.”