Advertisement of F&B facilities to be forbidden if their names are the same as those of casinos
On Wednesday, in the second reading, the State Duma accepted the amendment to Law “On advertising”, which bans advertising facilities ancillary to gambling. According to the document, F&B facilities, hotels and entertainment centres will not be able to advertise their activities should they have names identical to those of gambling facilities. The bill was supported by 401 parliament members. However, participants of gambling and advertising businesses do not consider the bill to be timely.
The amendment made to Clause 21 of Law “On advertising” bans “advertising facilities ancillary to gambling and advertising of gambling facilities, including venues where services ancillary to gambling are provided – hospitality, catering and entertainment”. A member of the Duma Economy and Entrepreneurship Committee, Vladimir Medinsky believes that the document will “eliminate advertisement of gambling in any shape”.
According to creative director of New Creative advertising agency Lev Marzeev, reducing of advertisement agencies` revenues to result from accepting the amendment to Law “On advertising”, will be about 3%. First Vice President of Gambling Operators` Association, Valeriy Milov thinks that the accepted bill is untimely now: when the accepted amendment comes into effect, gaming business, in its current shape, will have only half a year left for operations. Mr Milov says that the approved document is just a last attempt to “impinge gaming business”.
An account manager of Salve group of companies, Julia Uvacheva, is of the same opinion: as of 2009, the entire gaming business will be relocated to the specialized gaming zones, she says, and gambling operators have already started to reduce or convert their activities. Therefore, according to Ms Uvacheva, the accepted amendment will not affect gaming business; however, advertising business will be affected.