Date: Tuesday February 5th 2019
Time: 5.00 pm-7.00 pm
Venue: Excel Center South Gallery Room 25

Lecturer: David Clifton – http://cliftondavies.com/about-us/david-clifton/
Title: “Gambling advertising – Turn down the volume or turn it off?”

David Clifton has been advising gambling operators for more than 35 years, both as a UK-qualified lawyer and now as an industry consultant. In that time, attitudes towards gambling and towards the regulation of gambling advertising have changed radically. At a time when, arguably at least, public opinion increasingly motivates policy direction, the issue of gambling advertising currently produces more questions than answers. Recent developments and proposals for tougher restrictions on, or outright prohibition of, gambling advertising in Italy, Belgium, Spain, Bulgaria, Ireland, the UK and elsewhere demonstrate how, across Europe, a combination of different politics, different national regulatory frameworks and different public attitudes towards gambling influence what levels of consumer protection are to be applied. However, if an evidence-based approach (rather than knee-jerk reaction to public outrage) should be adopted when assessing what level of gambling advertising regulation is appropriate, what research or statistical evidence exists to identify more precisely where the problems lie and how those problems might most effectively be addressed? Should the focus of such regulation be more on children and the vulnerable than on the public at large, more on online media than offline, more on certain offers and promotions than on others or merely on the sheer volume of gambling advertising? Should marketing affiliates be brought within the licensing regime? Can Europe achieve some degree of harmonisation of gambling advertising regulation or a framework for such regulation, even if not of gambling regulation itself? David will address these, and other, questions in his presentation with a view to further stimulating the gambling advertising debate.