Part 1: Affiliates and the pendulum-swing against igaming marketing
much unknowable. “What we do
know is that the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC), the major
regulatory body for the advertising
market, is not just concerned with
unfair competition and consumer
protection but is increasingly
focused on the regulation of
advertising to children and the
advertising of particular goods
(such as alcohol and tobacco).
“More recently, it has also
started to monitor affiliate
marketing and there have been
a number of cases brought by
the FTC regarding influencer
marketing,” she adds. “Gambling
advertising is, therefore, likely to
be an area of particular interest to
the FTC, whether it is produced by
operators or their affiliates.”
Affiliates and GB regulations
Marketing and the LCCP Industry Group for Responsible Gambling
Though affiliates are not themselves regulated by
Great Britain’s Gambling Commission, the Licensing
Conditions and Codes of Practice’s (LCCP) social-
responsibility provisions make it clear that operators
are responsible for the messaging that is issued on
their behalf. Among the guidelines is the provision that
advertising for gambling “must not be misleading”
and that “significant conditions of limitations” to
any free bet offers must be clearly displayed and
transparent. Moreover, operators need to ensure that
all marketing communications should not be sent to
those customers who have self-excluded. Both operators and affiliates need to comply with
the IGRG industry code on responsible advertising,
which itself includes an obligation to abide by all
aspects of the CAP Code and also includes advice
on socially responsible messaging to be displayed on
all advertisements along with the GambleAware web
address and branding. This includes click-throughs,
where the affiliates and operators are instructed to
direct traffic to a landing page where GambleAware
messaging is prominent.
The third edition of the Code also made reference
to the Gambling Commission’s explicit advice with
regard to affiliates. “As such operators are encouraged
to use their best endeavours to ensure that all of
the relevant Code requirements are also followed by
affiliate marketers of all kinds,” says the March 2018
edition of the Code.
Advertising standards
Operators and their affiliates also have to abide by
specific rules as set out by the Advertising Standards
Authority (ASA) and its non-broadcast Advertising and
Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP) code. Again,
the operator is liable to sanction should any adverts
be deemed to have fallen foul of the code, with those
found to be in consistent breach of the rules being
referred to Trading Standards or the Competition and
Markets Authority (CMA). The CAP Code contains
specific rules with regard to gambling and social
responsibility to which all affiliates must adhere,
including not advertising to children, the sending of
unsolicited mail, clear notification of advertorial and
provisions around misleading marketing.
8
Data protection
All should at least be aware of the provisions
enshrined within the General Data Protection
Regulation (the dreaded GDPR) but the affiliate sector
also has the UK’s Information Commissioners Office
(ICO) on its back.
In November 2016 the body announced a
crackdown on gambling affiliate spam marketing,
requesting details on how affiliates used the personal
information they gleaned on consumers.
Under pressure: Regulation and the evolution of affiliate marketing