The marketing and advertising rules for gambling industry haven’t changed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but European regulators have clearly highlighted the areas of public concern.

The European Gambling Associations issued Guidance On Safer Online Gambling And Responsible Advertising, while the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a series of guidelines, blogs and rulings, setting out their revised priorities and policies during this period.

Advertising authorities are working in partnership with customer protection institutions to prevent online disinformation and COVID scams.

European gambling operators should keep apparent references to coronavirus from gambling advertising and ensure that World Health Organisation statements don’t appear in marketing campaigns. Online gambling should not be portrayed as a solution to social, personal or financial problems or an escape from boredom.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) encourages people to report gambling ads violating the rules, such as referring to alleviating boredom by gambling during the lockdown, while the Gambling Commission reminded operators that people may be particularly vulnerable at this time and issued new customer protection guidelines for online operators.

The ASA has been very clear that it will take an extremely dim view of anyone seeking to capitalise on the pandemic to sell products or services, saying:

“Think very carefully before you make any direct or implied claims about coronavirus or COVID-19 in your advertising – all ads must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and the ASA is unlikely to have any patience for marketers seeking to unfairly exploit the outbreak to sell products or services or otherwise make claims that would be considered socially irresponsible.”

The gambling operators should consider their future reopening campaigns and review existing adverts which may trigger complaints because they are no longer appropriate at this time. Avoid depicting people hugging each other, sharing food with their hands or taking part in mass gatherings.

Advertising has always required sensitivity to the unintended public impact and now the industry has new circumstances to consider while conveying the key message to their clients.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to impact daily life in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission is following Public Health England guidance and is calling on licenced gambling operators to implement additional measures in order to minimise their employees and customers’ exposure to the pandemic risks.

In line with the Social Responsibility Code provisions, the Gambling Commission licensees must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk harms associated with gambling. According to the Commission’s guidance on customer interaction, the licensees should identify customers who may be at risk of experiencing gambling harms, interact with customers to prevent the risks and evaluate the impact of the interaction.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown, on the 13th of May the UK Gambling Commission issued additional formal guidance for remote operators during COVID-19 outbreak. Licensees should ensure they have additional preventive measures implemented into their customer interaction framework.

The most important initiative requires the licensed operators to monitor the amount of time and money that players spend during the pandemic, and to intervene if this increases compared to pre-crisis levels. Operators are advised to review their time indicators to capture play in excess of 1 hour as this is a proxy for potential harm and might require interaction.

The thresholds and triggers of vulnerability should be reviewed to reflect changed financial circumstances that many consumers will be experiencing. Additional thresholds and triggers might be set specifically for new customers considering the operators lack of knowledge of that individual’s play and spend patterns.

Reverse withdrawal options for customers to be stopped until further notice. Customers displaying signs of gambling harms should not receive bonus offers or promotions. Operators will also increase safer gambling messaging directed at all consumers across their websites and apps.

Timely identifying and interacting with customers at risk might help to prevent or significantly reduce the impact of gambling related harms in times of pandemic. These measures will be kept under periodic review by the Gambling Commission.