Britain’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) is calling on the Premier League and English Football League to encourage clubs to adopt new rules on gambling social media posts.
The new rules have been drawn up by the BGC in response to concerns about young people’s exposure to gambling related messaging on social media platforms.
Under the new BGC code of conduct, calls to action or links to gambling websites would not be allowed on organic tweets on the social media feeds of football clubs, with the code also prohibiting any display of direct bonuses or odds on organic tweets which cannot be solely targeted at over-18s.
“Football clubs are an important part of the sporting fabric of this country, followed by millions of all ages on social media,” said BGC chair Brigid Simmonds. “Our members rightly have a zero tolerance approach to gambling by under-18s, so as an industry we are understandably concerned that children may be exposed to betting adverts on social media platforms.
“Our new guidelines make clear the standards expected of football clubs when they post gambling promotions on social media, and I look forward to them being put into practice as soon as possible.”
The BGC is also calling on Twitter and Facebook to introduce age-gating for all social media accounts to ensure that organic posts which include gambling adverts can only be seen by over-18s.
The new rules add to the BGC’s Sixth Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising, published last August, which stipulates that members must ensure all sponsored or paid for social media adverts are targeted at those aged 25 and over unless the website can prove its adverts can be precisely targeted at over 18s.
The new rules for non-age gated posts include:
No links or display of website addresses for betting sites in text or graphic
No inclusion of betting companies handles
No direct bonus/acquisition offers in text or graphic
No direct display of odds in text or graphic
No calls to action in text or graphic
18+ and GambleAware messaging in graphic if a brand image is used
Retweets from gambling accounts are not allowed as the posts are not age gated