Are Latin Basketball Leagues Likely To See New Advertising Regulations?

Sporting leagues around the world are being faced with questions about the safety of the advertising they show. With many regulatory and other interested groups pushing for certain types of advertising to be limited or banned entirely, from being shown during sports broadcasts. Sports leagues in Latin America, including the many Latin basketball leagues, are beginning to come under similar scrutiny.

While still in some cases relatively small when compared with sports leagues in other regions or other sporting disciplines, the various basketball leagues around Latin America are still fairly popular and important sources of economic growth. As such, they are choice options for advertisers, which is how many sporting leagues generate lots of revenue. However, sporting leagues globally are finding that regulatory bodies and concerned community groups are becoming more and more interested in the sorts of advertising that are shown during live sporting events. In particular, sports leagues in the UK, Australia and Spain have strict rules around the showing of any advertisements for betting or gambling services.

It is uncertain how long, or if, the various Latin basketball leagues will face similar restrictions, but as they grow, it might behove them to prepare ahead of time to face such restrictions. Questions about the ethics of advertisements are an old story, but one that is being retold with slight variations currently. As more people display concern around the possibility of impressionable or vulnerable people being exposed to manipulative advertising content, it will fall to regulators to act if sports leagues don't themselves.

Why is Sports Advertising Suddenly Under Review?

You might be wondering why there is suddenly all this fuss about advertising during sports. Has something happened in particular? The answer is, not really. There has been a growing awareness of the dangers of advertising and its effect on vulnerable and impressionable groups. Couple this with a growing understanding of the dangers of certain things that are often heavily advertised, such as gambling/betting, junk food and alcohol, and it seems relatively simple as to why there is growing concern over when those advertisements are shown.

One of the criticisms that is often made about the showing of these ads during sporting events is that they are frequent and constant. This frequency leads to the behavior shown during those ads being normalized. If, for example, you see an ad of someone using an online comparison site like Zamsino.com to search for online casino platforms ten times during one session of watching sports, it makes that behavior seem much more normal than if you were to see that ad only once.

The basketball leagues of Latin America continue to grow in size and popularity, which happens to coincide with the growth of online gambling and betting platforms, some of which are sponsoring teams and leagues across Latin America. It's true that advertising revenue is a huge deal for sports teams and leagues, but questions around the ethics of these sponsors are continuing to be raised. Luckily, the sporting leagues of Latin America don't have to reinvent the wheel here; there are plenty of examples they can learn from elsewhere.

International Lessons to be Learned

As a specific example, we can look at a number of countries with well-developed betting and gambling markets that have decided to impose strict regulations on the advertising that the industry can show during sporting matches. These countries can give us a hint of the paths that the various Latin American countries might take themselves in regards to advertising regulations.

A Whistle-to-Whistle Ban in the UK

The UK, which has a strong culture of both betting and sports fanaticism, introduced what is known as the 'whistle-to-whistle' ban in late 2019. This ban stops gambling advertisements from being shown from 5 minutes before until 5 minutes after sports matches are broadcast. This ban includes advertising for betting platforms and online casino platforms such as Mr Fortune Casino, but was primarily designed to stop betting from seeming like an integral part of the sports watching experience. The UK also has a watershed ban prohibiting gambling adverts from daytime broadcast.

Australia Weighs a Total Ban

Australia has a watershed approach to gambling advertisements, similar to the UK's, prohibiting them during any hours or programs that a minor might be viewing. These guidelines have been enforced strictly, and several major Australian television networks have received fines for non-compliance. In addition, any gambling advertisements that are shown must also contain warnings and messaging designed to dissuade people from participating in gambling activities. The country is also considering a slowly phased-in total ban on all gambling adverts on traditional broadcast media.

Spain Has a Total Ban on Gambling Ads in Sports

For a look into what may be the endgame for countries concerned with responsible gambling and consumer safety, Spain has banned almost all gambling sponsorships from sports. Spain also has its own watershed ban in place, although it limits gambling advertisements to only being broadcast between 1 AM and 5 AM. The idea behind these regulations was to remove gambling from any connection to sports, framing them as entirely separate activities.

Are There Lessons That Latin America Could Learn?

The above examples only focus on gambling advertisements, not on fast food, alcohol or any other potentially ethically questionable adverts, but yes, Latin American basketball leagues can learn from these regulations. Techniques such as the slow phase-out of advertising that Australia is planning will allow both the gambling and sports industries to become used to the idea of the changes, while at the same time allowing them to position themselves to replace lost sponsorship or advertising revenue with other sources.

The harshness of Spain's approach has been both criticized and lauded, and while it might be effective in some areas, Latin American countries will have to ask themselves if the damage to their sports leagues is a price worth paying. For basketball leagues in Latin America, seeking varied sponsorships, especially from industries that are not associated with dangerous or potentially harmful activities, would be a good way to insulate themselves from the potential loss that such harsh advertising regulation could bring.

An Uncertain Future for Latin American Basketball Advertising

While for the moment the advertising landscape surrounding Latin American basketball is relaxed and fairly free, it might not stay that way. A growing movement towards more responsible advertising and the dangers that advertising can cause to impressionable and vulnerable people could mean change is in the wind for Latin American Basketball advertising and sponsorship deals.