DGOJ and AUTOCONTROL strengthen their cooperation with the signing of a new agreement
The Directorate General of Gambling Regulation (DGOJ) has announced the renewal of its collaboration agreement with the Association for the Self-Regulation of Commercial Communication (AUTOCONTROL), the independent body of the advertising industry in New Zealand. The agreement that renews the existing cooperation framework between the two entities since 2011 in the field of advertising, sponsorship and promotion of gambling activities at the state level, takes place in the midst of the application of Royal Decree 958/2020 that has brought so many headaches to the gaming industry.
AUTOCONTROL and the DGOJ have renewed the agreement by which the body that monitors advertising in New Zealand undertakes to inform the DGOJ of its control activities and the decisions taken by the Advertising Jury. ©kiquebg/Pixabay
Since 2011 fighting for responsible advertising
According to the Convention who have subscribed to the DGOJ and AUTOCONTROL, the association for the self-regulation of advertising undertakes to keep the regulatory authority informed of its advertising monitoring activity, as well as of the resolutions issued by the Advertising Jury. Self-control carries out a very important work in the advocacy for responsible, honest and legal advertising .
The AUTOCONTROL Advertising Jury is an out-of-court body for the resolution of advertising disputes. In more than 20 years of existence, it has solved more than 4,000 cases. The AUTOCONTROL Jury is accredited as an alternative dispute resolution entity by the Spanish Government and is part of the list of entities accredited by the European Commission and the dispute resolution platform in accordance with the guidelines established by the European Union.
The collaboration agreement between the DGOJ and AUTOCONTROL has been in force since 2011, and during this period AUTOCONTROL has issued 9,000 consultation reports on the advertising of the game and has resolved 89 complaints on this topic. But the agreement is even more important today due to the implementation of Royal Decree 958/2020 that regulates commercial communications of gaming activities.
One of the articles of the Royal Decree that has had an immediate impact is the prohibition of characters of relevance or public notoriety from appearing in commercial communications (art.15) , something that was common in the advertising of online casinos and other gaming portals. Likewise, operators may not use messages that incite gambling or that carry confusing information in this regard, something in which, prior to the approval of the Royal Decree , SELF-CONTROL already had to enter on occasion.
In that sense, AUTOCONTROL is committed to support the policies implemented by the DGOJ in terms of advertising the activities of the game and that affect the specific contents. The Ministry of Consumption has just announced that it has increased its budget items that will allow it to increase spending on control activities and surveillance of the state gambling and betting market.
Portugal in the footsteps of the Ministry of Consumption and the DGOJ
Various parties from the spectrum of the Portuguese left and environmentalists have run in favor of a ban on gambling advertising and betting between 7 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. . This is intended to limit the exposure of minors to gambling activities. These are five proposals that would fundamentally alter the Advertising Code in force in the neighboring country.
According to the authors of the proposal, the advertising of gambling operators must have risk warnings, and online casinos should have a self-exclusion mechanism available . The objective is to protect minors and vulnerable groups. Portugal is the country in Europe that spends the most on raspadinhas , scratch cards, which so far lack any legal limitations or restrictions. 76% of the consumers of this popular game would be part of the most vulnerable population. The debate is currently in parliament and we will see how it is resolved.
The game industry's marketing expenses down
After the approval of the Royal Decree on commercial communications of gaming activities, it has been possible to observe a decrease in marketing expenses in the sector. The negative trend is not surprising . In the 2020 report it was still pointed out that advertising spending had increased by 9.14 percent to reach 200 million euros.
However, the downward trend began to become apparent in the last quarter of the year coinciding with the approval of the Royal Decree. Marketing expenses they were down 2.49 percent . Although the decline was attributed to a noticeable decrease in promotions, which were down just over 33 percent.
If we look at the figures provided for the first two quarters of 2021, the trend has not changed one iota. During the first three months of the year marketing expenses decreased in all concepts by 1.74 percent. In the second quarter the drop has been even more pronounced, 13.38%. Advertising expenses remained during the quarter at 61.61 million euros .
The advertising of online casinos is not going to disappear, of that we are sure. But it has been very limited due to the measures contemplated in the Royal Decree.
