Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to monitor the ways that gambling companies advertise to (a) potentially vulnerable people and (b) all other people.

All gambling advertising, wherever it appears, is subject to strict controls on content and placement. Gambling operators and their affiliates must abide by the advertising codes issued by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP). Compliance with the codes is a licence condition for gambling operators. If an operator’s advertising breaches the code, the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) can refer an operator to the Commission to take enforcement action.

To ensure compliance with the codes, the ASA proactively monitors the impacts of advertising content on different groups. Through various annual monitoring reports, the ASA monitors under 18s exposure to gambling adverts on TV and seeks to address inappropriate placement of gambling ads online as part of its quarterly online monitoring sweeps and enforcement activity. The ASA also updates the codes in response to evidence regarding the way companies advertise and its effects. Following research from Ipsos Mori for GambleAware which identified features of gambling advertising that appeal to children and vulnerable adults, the CAP has consulted on reforms to the advertising codes. New rules to protect vulnerable adults are already in force with the announcement of the full consultation outcome expected very soon.

DCMS is reviewing the Gambling Act 2005, including the evidence on advertising. We are also consulting on the Online Advertising Programme, which will examine the regulatory model for online advertising to ensure we have an effective and coherent regulatory model to help create and support a sustainable, transparent and accountable online advertising market. It will also consider the potential for harm from placement and targeting of adverts across all sectors, including gambling advertising.