Mayor of London says he will ban gambling ads on the Tube if re-elected

[The Buzz]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that he will ban gambling advertisements on the Tube if he is re-elected as mayor next month.

In his election manifesto released last week, Khan said his current junk food ad ban on the London Underground would be extended to include “harmful gambling advertisements” if he wins the 6 May election. Khan previously banned all advertising on the Tube network that depicted “food and non-alcoholic drinks high in fat, salt and/or sugar” in 2018.

From City A.M.:

The decision to ban gambling ads comes as TfL faces a dire financial situation thanks to Covid-19 wiping out a large portion of passenger revenue.

The manifesto read: “I’ve already banned body-shaming advertisements and advertisements for foods high in fat, salt and sugar on the TfL network because of their impact on the health of Londoners.

“Given the devastating way gambling addiction can destroy lives and families, I’ll instruct TfL to bring forward plans to extend the ban to harmful gambling advertisements on the network.”

TfL’s advertising estate is a key element in its financial make-up. According to the network, 40 per cent of the capital’s outdoor advertising value is from its estate. For the year 2020/2021, the network expected to derive a £156m in income from the estate, which will then be reinvested back into TfL. Gambling ads could contribute millions of pounds towards this.

Read more here: https://www.cityam.com/mayor-of-lond...s-on-the-tube/

[rmeeuwsen]

Does he expect staff to determine which ads are “harmful gambling advertisements” , "positive gambling advertisements” or just plain ban them all.

Odd that he objects to "non-alcoholic drinks", but what about "alcoholic drinks".

[Cash Bonus]

What is meant by harmful gambling advertisements? I mean, they're all gambling ads and i don't seem to recall ever seeing any "harmful" or "underage" gambling ads in my life.

All the gambling ads I've seen are standard ads which include horse racing, those SportsBet ads, which also mention their affiliate program being available on the app store, Neds, Ladbrokes (there's a new ad now featuring Mark Wahlberg), etc.

Hopefully this guy doesn't win a re-election term in office again next month !

[mickyfu]

Good news all round I'd say. The filth can't renivest their ill gotten gains from affiliates into offline marketing.

[Pokerface]

Why does he even need to be relelected? Why not just do it now! But does he not have bigger fish to fry at the moment? Wow!

[Nenad]

These are all cheap political points. If he wanted, he would do it straightaway.

[baldidiot]

Why does he even need to be relelected? Why not just do it now! But does he not have bigger fish to fry at the moment? Wow!

Because he wants to be re-elected. So it's IF I get re-elected, I'll do this - therefore if someone thinks it's a good idea and wants it to happen they'll need to vote for him.

If someone did all their ideas before the election they'd have nothing to offer for their next term.