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AGA Unveils a Revamped Marketing Code of Conduct for Sports Betting
By Jeff Osienya Sep 17, 2020 IndustryAs it commemorates the annual Responsible Gaming Education Week, the AGA has published a fresh set of tighter guidelines to zero in on irresponsible marketing in sports betting. The new code particularly focuses on underage and vulnerable groups.The American Gaming Association (AGA), the gaming industry association in the US has introduced a new binding code of conduct entitled the Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering. This new code of conduct officially activates revamped standards to foster responsible marketing practices targeting sportsbook products across the rapidly growing US sports betting industry.
The tenets of the Responsible Marketing Code for Sports Wagering apply to all advertising activities conducted via both traditional and digital marketing media by both non- members and members of the AGA.
Along with the publication of the new ‘contemporary standards of good taste’ as the AGA describes the new code, the trade body also disclosed the formation of a Code Compliance Review Board to enforce newly published rules of engagement for industry marketing. The board comprises two independent co-chairs from UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation and five executives from the AGA, all of whom are top brass figures from leading industry brands such as Rush Street Gaming, MGM Resorts International, William Hill, Hard Rock, and Benn National Gaming.
What Does AGA’s New Code Say?
One of the highlights of this newly published code is the call for industry operators not to use marketing messages that promote excessive or reckless betting on sports. All sports betting ads should additionally include a responsible gambling message and a toll-free helpline phone number to point bettors to professional assistance in case they are facing an impulsive gambling problem. The advertisements aren’t also supposed to contain messages that suggest assurance in personal, social, or financial success from sports betting.
The code also emphasized the protection of minors by including a premise that wagering on sports is a recreational activity that is only meant for consumption by responsible adults and thus, it must be advertised accordingly to the target audiences. Therefore, the code bars gambling commercials from featuring any form of music, entertainment material, or cartoon characters that could end up enticing underage audiences.
In line with the protection of youngsters, the advertisements shouldn’t also be promoted on social media platforms that are largely used by younger age groups. Still on the subject of underage consumers, the code forbids operators from including sports betting promotional material on clothing, toys, or games equipment that is typically targeted to individuals that are below the legal gambling age in the US.
Likewise, incentives related to betting on sports can’t be promoted in colleges or university campuses. This is particularly crucial now that PointsBet, an Australian sportsbook has recently inked a momentous deal with the University of Colorado Buffaloes.
The Responsible Gambling Education Week
Enforcement of the sports wagering advertising principles officially began on the 14th of September as the AGA commemorates the start of its annual Responsible Gaming Education Week (RGEW). Each year, the AGA uses the RGEW as an opportunity to demonstrate the industry’s constant commitment to upholding responsible gaming standards through measures such as the promotion of gambling education to consumers and working hand in hand with allies across the community to boost safer gambling initiatives.
In 2020 for instance, the AGA is paying special attention to the Have A Game Plan.® Bet Responsibly program, which is the trade body’s campaign to sensitize both newbies and veteran sports bettors on better practices of betting responsibly as the country undergoes a season of rapid expansion of regulated sports betting. This campaign reminds bettors to set gambling budgets within their means, take betting as a form of entertainment alone by keeping it a social activity, understand the games they are wagering on, and encouraging them to bet on state-approved licensed sportsbook operators for guaranteed protection.
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