KSA orders Dutch State Lottery to stop using footballers in adverts

Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has ordered the State Lottery to eliminate gambling advertisements using professional football players and athletes. 

As the European Football Championships continue, the KSA is scrutinising the use of professional athletes and teams in gambling advertising. To ensure the future and safety of young people, it claims, a cease and desist order has placed the threat of legal action if professional football players continue to advertise gaming on uniforms during matches. 

KSA’s objective

With the view to prevent adolescents from associating themselves with gaming or developing an addiction, the KSA suggests this form of advertising comes with a high risk of role models glamourising and sensationalising gambling to young, vulnerable groups.

The regulator’s decision to ban the use of advertisements using football players stands as paramount in protecting vulnerable groups from the risk of developing gambling addictions, according to the KSA.

The strategy to decrease addiction in young people later in life is aided by the decision that any other role model should also not be used to promote gambling, especially if they have a substantial influence on young people, or if they themselves are under the age of 25. 

This decision came after the run-up to the European Championships saw gambling advertisements on professional athletes broadcast on a multitude of different television channels and in various forms.

The State Lottery has since adjusted its advertising so that football players are no longer visible advertising gambling or gaming. The KSA can now make the decision public after a delay in legal deadlines.