WEB AND MOBILE FRAUD
Get creative and don't take the gamble
Legitimate online gambling companies have been warned off advertising on illegal websites that provide access to pirated materials, thanks to a campaign organised by the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
As a result of the groundbreaking police ‘Operation Creative’ that disrupts illegal websites providing pirated access to films, TV, books, music and games there has been an 87 per cent drop in adverts for licensed gambling operators on sites that infringe copyright in the last 12 months.
Action was taken to help prevent licensed gambling operators from inadvertently providing revenue to those committing crime online, which runs counter to their licensing objective under the Gambling Act 2005 to “keep crime out of gambling”.
Through the Infringing Website List (IWL), gambling operators are provided with an up-to-date register of copyright infringing sites, in turn allowing them to stop advert placement on these illegal websites.
The research was carried out by white BULLET, a global data company that specialises in brand safety solutions and provides transparency on digital advertising on Intellectual Property (IP) infringing websites.
In October 2016, The Gambling Commission made placing digital adverts responsibly a licensing condition for all gambling operators targeting consumers in Great Britain. This condition means that licensees must not place adverts on illegal websites and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that third parties under contract with them adopt the same approach. These illegal websites harm not only the UK’s creative industries, but also the UK consumer.
Data was gathered on 40 gambling operators who hold a Gambling Commission licence and are current members of the IWL. The results are positive for these gambling companies whose aim is to stop their advertising budgets ending up in the hands of criminals.
The Gambling Commission has been working with industry to raise awareness of the new condition and requirements and has already taken targeted interventions to ensure compliance.
PIPCU launched Operation Creative and the IWL back in 2013 to tackle the funding of illegal streaming websites that adversely impact on the UK’s creative industries. This is a police-endorsed list of websites which host copyright infringing content and is used by advertisers and advertising networks to avoid placing adverts on them and, therefore, passing revenue to them.
Research carried out earlier this year by white BULLET showed that there has been a 64 per cent decrease in advertising from the UK’s top ad spending companies on copyright infringing websites.
Acting Detective Superintendent Peter Ratcliffe, head of the PIPCU, said: “The success of a strong relationship built between PIPCU and The Gambling Commission can be seen in these figures.
“This is a fantastic example of a joint working initiative between the police service and an industry regulator. We commend the 40 gambling companies who are already using the Infringing Website List and encourage others to sign up. We will continue to encourage all UK advertisers to become a member of the Infringing Website List to ensure they’re not inadvertently funding criminal websites.”
Tim Moss, CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office, stated: “Partnership work is clearly having a major impact on IP crime right across the UK. PIPCU and The Gambling Commission have cut off yet another illicit revenue stream for unscrupulous IP thieves. The Government and its partners will continue to fight IP crime in all its forms. Those wishing to profit from the hard work of others will not have an easy ride.”
Paul Hope, The Gambling Commission’s programme director, said: “The Gambling Commission is committed to ensuring gambling is free from crime. This is why we brought in a requirement that all operators must not place digital advertisements on websites providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content. The result of this latest initiative speaks for itself. We’re delighted with these figures.”
