A Dutch football club has withdrawn an advertising proposal after a warning from the Gaming Authority (KSA). The club wanted to depict a life-size image of the club captain on a prominent building in the city. As the club has a sponsorship contract with an online gambling provider and the player in the image would be wearing a shirt with that provider's logo, Ksa indicated that publishing the image would be a criminal offence. As a result, the football club decided not to implement its plan.
Both the gaming operator and the football club were of the opinion that this was a sports sponsorship. KSA concluded that the case at hand was not about sports sponsorship, but about untargeted online gambling advertising. Sports sponsorship involves a neutral mention by the logo sponsor or license holder's name, for example on the sportswear of professional athletes. Furthermore, in the case of sports sponsorship, it is important that there is a direct link between the neutral mention of the logo or name of the license holder, the practice of the sport and the place where that sport is practiced. This is the case, for example, of a footballer who plays a match with a sponsored shirt. In the present case, this was not the case and it was therefore a non-targeted advertisement for online gambling. It might also have violated the ban on using role models, because it involved a well-known athlete.
Ksa informed the football club, the supplier and the municipality where the advert was to be placed of its position. Furthermore, KSA announced that if the initiative went forward, KSA would impose a preventive sanction. Subsequently, the football club announced that it would withdraw the planned advertising and thus terminate the infringement early.
From July 2023, non-targeted advertising for online gambling is prohibited. This means that advertising online gambling in public spaces is prohibited, because this form of advertising makes it impossible to exclude vulnerable target groups, such as young adults. Sponsorship of, for example, television programs and sports sponsorship also fall under this ban, but due to long-term contracts, the ban for these forms of advertising will come into force later (1 July 2024 for program sponsorship and events and 1 July 2025 for sports sponsorship).
