A natural tension between gaming marketers and compliance officers often results in unintended legal violations in gaming ads and marketing materials, an expert panel told G2E attendees Monday afternoon.
New Jersey Gaming Enforcement Deputy Director George Rover, PLAYSTUDIOS co-founder and President Paul Matthews, and Scientific Games Regulatory Affairs Vice President Michael Fries addressed attendees, mostly gaming compliance personnel, with some marketers also among the audience of about 60. Cooper Levenson partner Lynne Levin Kaufman moderated the hour-long “How to Coexist: Proper Compliance and Compelling Marketing” educational session.
The general consensus among panel members was that promotional materials typically run afoul of various jurisdictional laws when the marketing and compliance wings of casinos and gaming operators do not meet to discuss potential legal problems.
Fries said the expectation among regulators is that marketers are looking to comply with the law. Marketers do understand that ads and marketing materials must be accurate, honest, not promise gaming wins, not target minors, make no misstatements about gaming operators, and abide by other local laws in whichever jurisdiction the promotions appear.
The best way to comply, Fries suggested, is for gaming operators and marketers to create a compliance committee and an internal mechanism for reviewing marketing materials, to avoid overt law-breaking that leads to potentially stiff penalties.
Doing that, though, results in a “natural tension between compliance and marketers,” Rover said.
He said marketers see compliance as restrictive; while compliance views marketing as a potential legal risk.
“I blame leadership in the company for that,” Rover said. “They have to work together.”
Matthews added that marketing people are not compliance people, and often do not seek to learn about compliance. But, he said, compliance people often ignore marketing, and that divide can lead to legal problems.
Fries said some jurisdictions provide a pre-approval process, which marketers can utilize to ensure any promotional materials will abide by the laws of that jurisdiction. Such jurisdictions might require a marketer to submit the materials to a particular law firm for a legal review, while others might have a formal pre-approval process, he said, adding that “it varies widely.”
When marketing violations do occur, they often involve problem gamblers.
“The greatest risk for U.S. operators is the exclusion list,” Fries said, referring to the lists that casinos and other gaming operations compile that excludes problem gamblers and others from receiving promotional materials.
Rover affirmed self-exclusion violations are common, with responsible gaming being another compliance issue with which marketing promotions often run afoul.
He said a violation might be as simple as not clearly displaying, on ads and marketing materials, required information directing problem gamblers to a toll-free help line or similar resource.
Marketers don’t like to display anti-gaming messages on their gaming promotions, but Rover said local laws often require information about help for problem gamblers.
When operators do violate the law, in most cases, Rover said New Jersey gaming regulators will give them up to 90 days to correct the problem. If an issue persists or becomes particularly troublesome, he said, a fine and someone losing a job is the usual result, along with the problem being corrected.
At gaming app firm PLAYSTUDIOS, Matthews said, “We just make sure our guys don’t do stupid stuff.”
That means ensuring ad integrity and honesty, while complying with local, state, and any applicable federal laws, as well as international laws, governing gaming marketing, but without hindering the ability of marketers to be effective, he said.
“Casinos are competing with every form of entertainment,” Matthews said. “We can’t stifle marketing innovation.”
Sometimes, that innovation includes marketing language that some might consider offensive, harmful, or illegal. Local obscenity laws generally determine the language that can be used on advertising and promotions, and community outrage and backlash against offensive marketing materials is an effective deterrent, Rover said.
Internationally, Fries cited saturation of gaming ads in Sweden as a prominent legal issue, while in Australia, ad targeting and location are primary issues affecting gaming marketers and compliance operators.
In addition to having marketing and compliance personnel work together to avoid violations, the panel generally agreed that, when in doubt, call relevant people in local jurisdictions with any questions, because they will try to help to resolve any potential issues.
