Gambling brands set to up digital activity after Facebook rule change

Facebook has relaxed the regulations it had placed on gambling brands using the site to reach customers.

nma

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Paddy Power’s latest ad campaign

The rules have been relaxed for 18 markets outside the US, including the UK. It means that gambling companies including Poker and Bingo brands and Lottery commissions, are also now able to launch non-gambling apps, giving a lot more freedom to use the site as other brands can.

A post on Facebook’s website stated, “we now allow the promotion of offline casinos or other legal gambling establishments provided the ads are appropriately targeted. We continue to prohibit the promotion of online gambling in the US, but may allow ads for online gambling and games of skill in other countries with our prior authorization.”

The relaxation, updated in Facebooks ad guidelines last month, means brands will no longer have to gain Facebook approval for status updates and a cap on the number of updates a gambling brand could post from Facebook has also been lifted.

Prior to the update, gambling brands were allowed to have a page but were limited to four posts per week that had to be screened by Facebook before being posted.

Restrictions will still be in place to ensure that Facebook users that are under 18 do not have access to gambling content, with age restrictions in place on pages, apps and paid ads.

TBG Digital, which has clients including Paddy Power, Spin Palace, Ruby Fortune and Betway, said the changes would be significant in boosting spend.

Lee Griffin, business development director at TBG Digital, said the changes will encourage a boost in spend from gambling brands as their ads will now be more effective.

“This now means that a free to play app on Facebook can specifically link to the gambling site, whereas before it might have had to have been to the brand’s blog. You can be overt now. It means you can use Facebook as a means to convert to paying customers,” said Griffin, “The lifting of restriction around posting also means that people should connect and have more interactions with the brands, which means gambling brands can now take advantage of paid ads such as Sponsored Stories which amplify that interaction.”

This story first appeared on New Media Age. For more digital stories and analysis’ from NMA click here now

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