BGC: Betting ads during the World Cup 2022 fall by over a third

BGC: Betting ads during the World Cup 2022 fall by over a third - Banner
Charlie Vogelsang
by Charlie Vogelsang Last updated:

A total of 110 ads appeared during the World Cup on ITV

The World Cup last year was easily the biggest sporting event of the year with the event being held in Qatar. Almost 26 million people watched the finale emphasising just how popular the event was.

Naturally, there were many concerned about what sort of advertisements would be shown throughout the World Cup as the sport appealed to different age groups. According to the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the number of TV betting adverts shown on ITV during the World Cup fell by 34% compared to the last World Cup in 2018.

34% less than in 2018

The data shows that a total of 110 ads appeared on ITV during the World Cup 2022 ignoring all lottery adverts. This is 34% less than the 167 betting adverts shown at the World Cup 2018 four years ago.

This roughly works out at 4.5 ads per live match at the World Cup 2022 compared to 8.35 back in 2018. It's expected that this is a direct result of the whistle-to-whistle ban introduced by the BGC in 2019.

A voluntary ban

The voluntary ban from the BGC recommends that TV betting commercials cannot be shown from five minutes before a match kicks off until the five minutes it ends before the 9pm watershed.

Last year, a report found that the ban led to a 97% reduction in the number of such ads being seen by children. The BGC members firmly pledge that 20% of their TV and radio adverts are safer gambling messages as well.

The BGC has also joined forces with social media sites to introduce age-gating rules to prevent ads from being seen by those under 25s. It's clear that the BGC is working to promote responsible gambling whilst also discouraging those under 25 from gambling.

"The reduction in betting ads is further proof of the continued commitment by BGC members to raising standards," says BGC

Michael Dugher, Chief Executive of the Betting and Gaming Council said: “At the start of the World Cup, the usual suspects said we would see a perfect storm of problem gambling, sparked by waves of betting adverts. This data prove that these warnings were yet again wrong.”

“The evidence shows that calls from prohibitionists to ban betting ads and sports sponsorship are not backed up by the evidence, with the Government themselves acknowledging independent research ‘did not establish a causal link between exposure to advertising and the development of problem gambling.”

“Nevertheless, the reduction in betting ads is further proof of the continued commitment by BGC members to raising standards - while also promoting safer gambling tools like setting deposit limits and time-outs, and signposting help to the those who need it.”

He concluded by stating: “All of this is in marked contrast to the unsafe, unregulated black market online that pays no tax and makes no contribution to the economy or many of our much-loved sports.”