Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Advertising Standards Authority upholds advertising standards in relation to pre-watershed online gambling adverts on (a) YouTube and (b) other websites.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent body responsible for regulating advertising in the UK across traditional forms of media (print, radio, TV) and online. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sister organisations of the ASA, are responsible for codifying the standards for advertising to the marketing industry as part of their CAP and BCAP Codes. The government is not involved in these codes, nor in the investigations and enforcement delivered by the ASA.

However, as part of the Gambling Commission’s licence conditions, gambling operators who advertise in the UK must comply with the advertising Codes. The ASA has the power to take action where there is evidence of advertising in breach of the Codes, wherever it appears, and the ASA can and does refer operators’ advertising to the Gambling Commission for possible regulatory action.