Consumers’ association torpedoing advertising code for online gambling

The gambling industry has not been able to agree on the tone and amount of gambling advertisements before the opening of the online gambling market. The Consumers’ Association, one of the parties involved, is dissatisfied with the agreements and has suspended its cooperation with an advertising code.

According to the Consumers’ Association, the code contained too few agreements to protect vulnerable groups against gambling addiction. “An advertising code must contain agreements that exceed the statutory requirements. So they must be stricter than the law,” says Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers’ Association. “But the code that the sector is now proposing offers less protection rather than more. Then it is of no use to you.”

In the proposal for the code It stated, among other things, that a maximum of three advertisements for online gambling would be broadcast per commercial block. It was also agreed that a maximum of 30 percent of the audience of famous Dutch people in advertisements may consist of children and young adults. The Consumers’ Association thinks that percentage is too high.

To prevent the code from being adopted, the Consumers’ Association has suspended its cooperation with the Advertising Code Foundation. That committee has informed the union that there will be no agreements about online gambling advertisements for the time being.

Tomorrow the online gambling market in the Netherlands will open and licensed companies will be allowed to advertise their gambling games.

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