UK GAMBLING PROMO RESTRICTIONS AGREED

10 August 2007

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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