New Coalition Aims to Protect Consumers in Sports Betting Advertising

The newly formed coalition called the Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising, will aim to prioritize the establishment and enforcement of policies that protect consumers. It will include members from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), NASCAR, National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), National Hockey League (NHL), NBCUniversal, and FOX.

Coalition Establishes Six Core Principles for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising

Today’s major professional sports leagues have lucrative partnerships with sports betting companies that generate significant revenue. However, they also want to ensure that fans continue to trust in the integrity of the games and do not question whether their outcome is influenced by gambling. 

This has become a pressing issue following the NFL’s suspension of five players for violating the league’s gambling policy. As a result, the leagues are trying to find a way to strike a balance between their financial partnerships and the trust of their fans through the establishment of the Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising.

The coalition is committed to implementing and maintaining consumer protection policies that adhere to six core principles. These principles aim to ensure responsible sports betting practices, which include marketing only to adults of legal betting age, avoiding excessive and irresponsible gambling promotion, ensuring accurate and non-misleading advertisements, adhering to contemporary standards of good taste, conducting appropriate internal reviews of sports betting advertising, and establishing a process for addressing consumer complaints related to sports betting advertising.

As sports betting becomes increasingly widespread across the US, the coalition feels it is crucial to establish guidelines around how sports betting should be advertised to consumers. The members of the coalition share a responsibility to ensure that sports betting advertising is targeted to an appropriate audience and that the message is carefully crafted and delivered.

The Coalition Will Also Promote Responsible Gambling

The Coalition’s establishment is an important step for the US sports industry, aiming to promote responsible gambling and establish clear advertising guidelines for legal sports betting’s growing market.

David Highhill, the general manager of sports betting at the NFL, expressed his thoughts on the formation of the new association: “Legalized sports betting offers fans another way to engage with their favorite sports, but just as we must support problem gambling prevention and resourcing, we must also remain mindful of how sports betting is presented and advertised to consumers, and this coalition should greatly aid in that cause.“

Kenny Gersh, the executive vice president of media & business development at MLB, also made a statement. He said that combining the coalition’s work in the advertising field with their efforts to promote responsible gambling and address problem gambling challenges would result in more considerate planning and implementation across the board.