Peers for Gambling Reform call for content marketing to be labelled as ads

Summary

The Peers for Gambling Reform (PGR) group has accused the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of repeatedly failing to properly police gambling content marketing on social media and has called for all such posts to be clearly labelled as advertising.

PGR’s letter to the gambling minister, dated 11 September, says content marketing now makes up roughly half of organic social media presence from gambling brands and can reach millions — research showed the top 10 operators generated over 20 million views in a single weekend. The group highlights a long timeline of complaints and studies dating back to 2019, including more than 150 examples flagged by the University of Bristol since 2021, yet few meaningful ASA rulings or sanctions have followed.

The group criticises the ASA’s inconsistent approach: at times it treated overseas social posts as outside its remit, then reversed this stance, and more recently has used a narrow “directly connected” test that PGR says excludes much content marketing. PGR urges the minister to act and at minimum demands a prominent ‘Advertising’ label on gambling social posts; some experts even recommend a ban because of the content’s appeal to children and young people.

The ASA responded by pointing to recent amendments to the CAP Code and said clarifying the code will help tackle irresponsible gambling ads. NEXT.io has contacted the DCMS for comment.

Key Points

PGR accuses the ASA of a “continuing failure” to regulate gambling content marketing on social media.
Content marketing now represents about half of organic social media activity from gambling brands and can attract millions of views.
Complaints and evidence date back to 2019; the University of Bristol reported over 150 examples to the ASA since 2021.
PGR says the ASA’s use of a ‘directly connected’ test excludes many content-marketing posts from regulation.
PGR calls for a prominent ‘Advertising’ label on gambling social posts and says experts recommend banning content marketing because of its appeal to under-18s.
The ASA says recent CAP Code amendments broaden its remit and will help tackle potentially irresponsible gambling ads.

Context and relevance

This matters for regulators, operators and anyone concerned about young people’s exposure to gambling promotion. The debate sits at the intersection of social media jurisdiction, advertising law and child-protection policy — and it has real commercial and reputational implications for operators if rules tighten or enforcement steps up. Government intervention could drive faster, clearer rules and force platforms and brands to change how they label or present content.

Why should I read this?

Short version: kids are seeing a lot of gambling posts that don’t look like ads, the watchdog’s been slow to act and peers want labels — or a ban. If you work in regulation, compliance, marketing or run an operator, this could mean quick changes to how you post and what you risk if you don’t.

Source

Source: https://next.io/news/regulation/peers-gambling-reform-content-marketing-labelled-ads/