UK: drop in gambling ads seen by children
The Advertising Standards Authority has reported that the visibility of gambling ads among children is at its lowest in 12 years.
UK.- The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released a dedicated report into the visibility of gambling ads among under-16s.
The report finds that gambling ads seen by children have reached the lowest level since 2008.
The report titled “Children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads” shows that the number of TV gambling ads seen by under-16s dropped from a peak of 4.4 gambling ads per week in 2013 to 2.5 per week in 2019.
This marks the lowest level of exposure since 2008 (2.2 ads per week), which was the first full year that all gambling products and services could be advertised legally on television in the UK.
The majority of gambling ads that children were exposed to were for bingo, lottery and scratchcards.
Exposure to gambling ads on TV also declined by an average one advert per week for adults, from a peak of 15.4 ads per week in 2018 to 14.4 ads per week in 2019.
Guy Parker, CEO of the ASA, said: “Our latest report shows that children’s exposure to TV ads for alcohol and gambling products remains low.
“We will continue our proactive monitoring to make sure this remains the case for TV ads as well as carrying out further monitoring online so that we limit children’s exposure to age-restricted ads wherever they appear.”
The full report on children’s exposure to age-restricted ads can be seen here.
The UK’s Betting and Gaming Council announced last month that members would cease to broadcast television adverts during the remainder of the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown.
