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Casinos> 2007
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Uk Gambling Promo Restrictions Agreed
Betting companies to confine kiddie shirt sponsorships
and obey advert curfew
The British gambling industry appears to have reached agreement
with government on new restrictions on gambling promotions, according
to a weekend article in The Observer newspaper.
When it comes to replica football hero shirts for children, the
industry has agreed that betting company branding and logos will
not be included in the design, and on the advertising front it has
been accepted that radio and television advertising will be restricted
until after 9 pm at night, although there are exemptions for Premiership
games.
Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and newly
promoted Sunderland all have lucrative shirt-sponsorship deals with
online betting companies, reports the newspaper.
The agreement follows a meeting with the new Culture, Media and
Sports Secretary, James Purnell, and The Observer quotes a government
source as revealing that Purnell felt the prospect of ads for online
gambling sites during programmes like Coronation Street was something
he was determined to prevent in order to protect children. "He
also feels strongly that the idea of children seeing gambling adverts
or being able to wear football shirts with gambling logos is wrong,"
the source added.
New gambling law gives the Secretary of State wide powers to limit
advertising. Purnell reportedly told industry representatives that
he would not hesitate to act unless they tightened the voluntary
rules. Under the new code, there will be no gambling adverts before
the 9 pm watershed and they will carry 'social responsibility signposting'
similar to that in alcohol advertising.
The government is to continue an exemption for sports-betting adverts
during televised Premiership games and other broadcast sporting
events, as well as lottery and bingo advertising - in part because
the income helps to support grassroots and minority sports.
The move by Purnell - coming on the heels of prime minister Gordon
Brown's decision to shelve plans for a supercasino in Manchester
- is the latest sign of the government's retreat from Blair-era
policies on gambling, opines the newspaper. An industry executive
who took part in the talks said that, despite pressure from local
MPs to revive plans for casinos in Manchester and Blackpool, any
such move seemed 'very, very unlikely'.
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