Gambling advertising: how to promote a brand without violating the law

10.12.2018

Gambling advertising can not only attract new gamers but also create difficulties for owners of gambling facilities. Russia relies on the act “About advertising” that imposes restrictions on casino promotion. The violation of the law results in penalties.

Read further in the article how to advertise a casino correctly and in compliance with the law.

How to promote land-based casinos?

The article 27 of the federal act “About advertising” reports that advertising of land-based casinos is allowed only within gambling zones.

Legal advertising tools also include banners and leaflets that are spread inside a gambling house. Besides, email marketing aimed at retaining customers is allowed.

One should take into account that prior to the FIFA World Cup 2018 betting houses received the right to promote services during live sports broadcasts and recorded competitions.

The law allows ads that take less than 20% of the total advertising time and is placed in specialized mass media.

Betting houses can also promote brands online, for example, on sports websites or sites of sports channels.

How to advertise an online casino?

In Russia, online casino advertising is prohibited, but gambling platforms find ways that enable the promotion of their services. For example, online casino ads are often found on banners and video roll-ins on movie websites.

It is also important to remember that online casinos usually obtain licenses not in Russia – operators turn to other jurisdictions, for example, Malta, Costa Rica, or Curacao. Correspondingly, all legal issues are solved adhering to the legislation of the country that issued the license.

Online casino promotion and player acquisition is possible using different methods.

RGW Moscow: Gambling advertising: how to promote a brand without violating the law 1

Social networks

Online casino advertising in social networks or SMM involves producing posts and video content. It helps to maintain the platform’s reputation and improves brand recognition, attracts attention of new players.

The policy of social media advertising is not strict – a group can be blocked only basing on user complaints.

Search systems

Search systems can also help to promote online casinos. For example, Google’s advertising policy allows promoting gambling in compliance with the local legislation. One can promote online games and place ads after being certified by Google.

For this purpose, one should hold a state license and find out what kind of gambling advertising is allowed in the jurisdiction of registration. Basing on this data, one should apply for certification by filling in the forms on the website.

Online casinos attract new players thanks to such web tools as Google Adwords and Google Display Network. Ads are shown to the target audience defined basing on search queries.

Affiliate programs

To promote online gambling platforms, an operator can sign up with one of the great variety of affiliate programs.

Affiliate platforms publish links to online casinos. When users click them and start playing, partners receive reward for advertising.

By registering with an affiliate program, the operator can choose the most profitable performance conditions and acceptable pricing.

Besides, gambling platforms can collaborate with bloggers that write articles about gambling.

Blocking of ads and penalties

Blocking of online casino ads is quite difficult. Roskomnadzor can block the website that publishes advertising posts. However, that is not enough, as ads spread quickly and are placed on other websites.

It is difficult to trace it, as one should constantly monitor ads and restrict them and their number can keep growing.

For breaching the advertising ban, one will have to bear administrative responsibility – a private individual can receive a fine of2,000to 2,500rubles, and a legal body will have to pay from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles.