UK Gambling Commission has revealed that a new condition of operators’ licenses forbids companies to advertise their products on file sharing sites.
The new condition, according to the authority, would take effect this autumn and requires companies to prevent advertising their brands on websites that provide access to unauthorised content. Moreover, the Commission informed licensees that they also have to ensure that third parties respect this new rule and don’t advertise gaming sites on their owner’s behalf.
Knowing that the requirement would impose some issues when managing complex third party deals the UK Gambling Commission came up with a solution; all third-party contracts would have to include a clause that would make it possible for UK operators to terminate any arrangements in case the third parties place advertisements on file sharing sites.
It was highlighted that the change was part of the Commission’s review of its licensing condition and codes of practice (LCCP) related to prevention of crime associated with gaming. The process included consultations with companies that hold a UK Gaming Commission issued license.
This topic has become popular after Tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload file-sharing site, announced plans to relaunch its project. While Megaupload was online, one of its top advertisers used to be gambling operators. For example, PartyGaming at the time spent more than $3 million for advertising on Dotcom’s site from 2009 and 2011. It is believed that this information motivated the Gambling Commission to react before the new site goes live.
The site based in New Zealand was taken down back in 2012 after US authorities noticed US-held copyrighted material stored on it. Nonetheless, as Dotcom still fights extradition to the States, he revealed that exactly five years from the moment Megaupload was shut down he would start a similar project that involves the Bitcoin.