On Friday 16th May the online and land gambling group Ladbrokes will launch Britain’s first dedicated TV advertisement to promote responsible gambling.
The advertisement is part of the new ‘Ladbrokes Life’ campaign which launched in April (see previous report) and was developed by the BBH agency. It celebrates the characteristics of different betting customers and aims to set a markedly less aggressive tone to that used in rival betting advertisements.
In the responsible gambling advert one of the characters, Mr Brightside is seen enjoying his night out despite being denied a winning bet by the decision of a linesman. The advertisement ends with a ‘Please Bet Responsibly’ message and does not include any promotional or sales messages.
Ladbrokes management says that the dedicated responsible gambling approach follows a number of measures undertaken by the betting group to promote responsible gambling.
These include the introduction of the Association of British Bookmakers code of player protection; new set-limits software on machines and retraining of staff to include a greater focus on interaction.
Ladbrokes already dedicates 20 percent of its shop window space to the promotion of responsible gambling and runs in-shop responsible gambling adverts featuring Chris Kamara.
Earlier this year the company established a committee of the main board of directors to set responsible business benchmarks, and for elements of executive pay to be linked to responsible gambling measures.
Ladbrokes chief executive Richard Glynn said Thursday:
“Most betting customers will recognise the message in the advertisement as something they already practice but we believe it is important to continue to promote responsible gambling to ensure people stay within their limits and don’t take unnecessary risks.”