There is no doubt that sports are a very popular topic in the UK, Especially football. However, all of that popularity attracts a lot of unwanted attention from the side of online gambling operators. The reason behind it is, that the betting industry is so heavily correlated with sports that it basically cannot operate without it. Therefore, their primary audience is the sports fans who are regularly glued to their T.V.s during important matches.

Fighting the ads

It has come into attention that Lord Chadlington, who is a leading donor and peer of the Tories, has started conducting talks with various other political parties like Labour, LibDems, and SNP. However, what’s more, interesting is that the Church of England is also taking part in this as they try to make a joint proposal of banning sports betting ads right before and right after games, reports casinopånett.eu.

 

Chadlington is thinking of proposing the Australian system of sports betting ads, where they are banned during the live betting events and of course an hour before and after serious matches that warrant huge amounts of traffic and highly addictive gambling.

 

According to The UK Parliament’s magazine, The House, Chadlington believes that this summer’s world cup truly displayed how much the industry is getting out of hand and how much freedom these operators are benefiting from. It would be a sin to say he’s inaccurate as the numbers have truly gone up by more than 63%, increasing total amounts spent on ads to £312m.

Misleading Ads

It is no secret that marketing through ads could get out of hand. It is also not a secret that sometimes the information displayed in them is not always the truth. As a matter of fact, the cases in which the operators enticed their audience to bet immediately because of an arbitrary deadline, has increased based on this summer alone. In addition, the betting options are very disadvantageous for the gamblers. For example, betting that a specific player will score, or the number of corners, fouls, penalties and etc. Obviously, these bets have a larger jackpot, but not really worth it. It is believed that there are already 2 million players at risk for gambling addiction with 430,000 well on their way.

An epidemic on the horizon

Recent economic issues within the UK has enticed some of its population to delve deep into the gambling pit. However, there is 1 big problem. It is easy to get in, but its nearly impossible to get out. It is understandable why Lord Chadlington wishes to completely ban the adverts as a whole, for the good of the population. However, other means could be considered as well. Social service groups that help gambling addicts, educational material for the pathological gamblers and most of all, a better way to spend their time and money, could be just as good of a proposal, while also not inhibiting the operators’ right to buy ad time. In addition, channels will be able to continue a steady income.

Stopping the addiction in its roots

Lord Chadlington has also stated his concern about a rising trend in video games, where people purchase various different “boxes” and receive random in-game items for a price. This trend can be seen with games like Fortnite and CS: GO. The Valve made game CS: GO has faced quite a lot of controversy as the system was so addicting and profitable that, some users started creating online gambling platforms for players to gamble away their in-game items for real-world money.