SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Independent gambling watchdog the Senet Group has announced that it will run a second burst of its TV and online advertising campaign ‘Bad Betty – When the Fun Stops’ from Monday 1 June. The watchdog aims to remind UK gamblers that betting more than they can afford is a #badbetty and they should pause and think again.
“Our research shows that gamblers are getting the message,” says Senet Group Chief Executive Ron Finlay, “but we want to keep reinforcing it.” The TV ads will run alongside key sporting events over the coming weeks, including cricket and Ascot.
The Senet Group has slightly altered the relative size of the words ‘Fun’ and ‘Stop’ in its yellow advertising strip, ‘When the Fun Stops, Stop’, to bring the two symbols into better balance. “We decided to change this to remove any doubt that we are serious about tackling this issue responsibly,” says Finlay.
Senet has also added guidance which strengthens the restrictions on members’ advertising.
“Members committed not to advertise gaming machines in betting shop windows,” says Finlay, “and we’ve now clarified that this extends to ‘tournaments’ too. We’ve also added guidance to include trackside hoardings shown on TV within the restrictions that apply to TV advertising before the 9pm ‘watershed’.”
Senet Chair and Independent Standards Commissioner, Wanda Goldwag, says Senet welcomes complaints from the public about alleged breaches of the commitments by its members. “People drawing attention to cases where operators are not doing what they promise is the best way for us to hold members to account.”
