The CEO of UK broadcasting giant Sky has warned that curtailing gambling operators’ television advertising will only lead to a further proliferation of these ads online.

On Sunday, the Times printed an op-ed by Sky CEO Stephen van Rooyen, who warned that the Remote Gambling Association’s rumored plan for a voluntary ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban on gambling adverts during live sports broadcasts would fail to stem the spread of problem gambling activity. (Read a non-paywalled blog post of van Rooyen’s article here.)

Citing a recent report by the industry-funded GambleAware charity, van Rooyen (pictured) noted that TV accounts for only 15% of gambling operators’ marketing budgets, while 80% of this spending is allocated to digital and social media channels, a medium van Rooyen claimed was “largely unregulated.”

The Sky CEO warned that any reduction in TV ad spending would simply be redirected online, and that if the RGA and its member companies were “serious about protecting vulnerable gamblers,” then they should focus on their online marketing, which van Rooyen claimed “has the least level of regulation and where there is the most evidence of harm.”