Sports betting ads: Industry weighs if they are excessive
SECAUCUS, N.J. » If you’ve turned on a television in the last three years, chances are you’ve been inundated with advertisements for sports betting, and not only during game broadcasts.
Commercials featuring an emperor addressing the masses, a woman urging bettors to “make it rain” and companies enticing gamblers with the chance to turn a few dollars into a fortune are blanketing the airwaves. Concern is starting to grow over how much is too much.
At the SBC Summit North America, a major international sports betting conference being held this week in northern New Jersey, industry players are voicing concern about possible backlash they fear could lead to harsh government restrictions on such advertising, like what has happened in Europe.
Bill Miller, president of the American Gaming Association — the gambling industry’s national trade association — called the current level of sports betting ads “an unsustainable arms race.”
“Is it annoying?” he asked. “Is it too much? It is an unsustainable thing.”
Miller and others warned that if the U.S. sports betting industry does not restrain itself, it could fall victim to the same sort of government regulations that an orgy of sports betting ads prompted in Europe.
In the U.K., teams are subject to a “whistle-towhistle” ban on sports betting ads appearing during the broadcast of their games. Italy has banned all gambling ads since 2019, and Spain prohibits sportsbooks from advertising on players’ jerseys or appearing as part of stadium names.
It also restricts broadcast ads for any other forms of gambling to the hours between 1 and 5 a.m.
So far, the U.S. has not imposed such regulations on sports betting ads. And many in the industry want to keep it that way.
Jeff Fernandez, vice president of business development and ventures for the New York Jets, said the industry and its professional sports partners need “to make sure we don’t have to go to a whistle-towhistle ban like what happens in the U.K.”
Johnny Avello, director of race and sports book operations for Draftkings, said his company’s current level of advertising is working as planned.
“I was at the (train) terminal in Hoboken yesterday and I saw Draftkings on every kiosk and every wall,” he said. “And I think it’s effective. It works.”
Fanduel and BETMGM, two other major advertisers, declined comment. Fanduel became the official provider of sports lines and betting odds for The Associated Press in a commercial agreement starting in April 2021.