BBC Radio 4 issued a special report the other day looking into the frequency of gambling advertisements during TV breaks in World Cup broadcasts. The broadcasts, interestingly, are shared between the BBC, who are funded by TV license payments and do not run ads, and ITV, who are not, and who do. As such, there is a bit of vested interest in critiquing this activity. There are also concerns being levelled at the BBC over less direct forms of advertising by presenters.
The Radio 4 report took a sample of eleven matches and found that the biggest advertisers of gambling services were the biggest names: Betfair, Paddy Power, Bet365, William Hill and the like. They found that only four out of sixty-eight ad breaks were gambling ad-free. Currently in the UK, only post-9pm watershed programming and live sporting broadcasts may feature gambling ads.
While the BBC doesn’t run ads, their broadcasts do include some indirect ways of encouraging gambling. A handful of football legends have recently signed deals as ambassadors for gambling companies; ex-Blackburn Rovers striker Alan Shearer signed with Coral for the year and had retweeted their material twice before the opening ceremony even took place. Coral described the deal as “quite simply the biggest football signing in Coral’s history”. Former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas retweeted promotional videos from Unibet in a similar manner. Of course, viewers on the BBC are also exposed to gambling sponsor material.
The national press has expressed concerns over the free bets offered in some of these ads, worried that they may encourage children viewing them during matches to gamble illegally. These free bets also appear to open a floodgate of direct push advertising, which this reporter can confirm from personal experience.
This year, Pokerstars gave me about $5 in free bets, which I laid on the first action I could find (England to beat Tunisia in their opening match). I made about $8 profit and promptly cashed out. (I’m a big poker player, but I never touch sports bets). I must have received half a dozen ads to my mobile phone as “notifications” in the next few days, as well as other material.
Correcting my preferences in the Pokerstars software didn’t do the trick, although it slowed the frequency; I had to disable all notifications from that app to get rid of the things. I’m sure an email to support would have served as well, and to be fair I’ve always found the firm’s support prompt and reasonable. But it’s indicative of tendencies across the whole industry. Once someone lays a bet, push, push, push to get them to lay another. And another. And another.
