Code of conduct

1 Best Practices

  • When it’s an ad, say it’s an ad. Mark social media posts as #ad mark any advert or section of adverts as such.
  • Don’t edit or alter links or creative (adding or removing text can confuse customers and editing links may result in commissions not being tracked)
  • Make note of offer Terms and Conditions. When we share offers, we highlight the most important terms and conditions. Wherever possible, try and make these visible along with the offer.
  • If you are not sure which Terms and Conditions should be listed, get in contact with us on affiliates@boylesports.com and we will provide the key terms and conditions that need to be listed.
  • Make sure customers are opted-in. You have better chances of getting valuable customers if they are opted in, prepared to see offers and are in the market.
  • Avoid third party data. Many individuals and companies may try and sell you email lists, mobile numbers or ad placements on other sites. Check that they are properly registered and query them on the IAB standards for advertising online

1.1 Promoting BoyleSports

During the time you’re promoting us you shall:

  • Incorporate and continually display the most up-to-date Links provided to you by BoyleSports on your Site and you shall not alter the form, location or operation of the Links without BoyleSports prior written consent;
  • Maintain your Site in an appropriate manner and contact us if you are materially changing design or layout or adding material that you should know, acting reasonably, may influence our opinion as to whether or not you are a suitable affiliate;
  • Not place any Links on pages of your Site aimed at persons under the age of 18 years or otherwise target, whether directly or indirectly, such persons for gambling-related services
  • During the time you are promoting us you shall share safer gambling related content on a quarterly basis.
  • Make it clear in any communication by you to potential customers that the communication is made without the knowledge or involvement of BoyleSports and that any complaint that the recipient may wish to make should be addressed to you and not BoyleSports;
  • Upon our request, immediately remove any marketing activity promoting BoyleSports on your Site or on other advertising channels within your control; and comply with all reasonable instructions of BoyleSports in relation to this Agreement.

During the time you’re promoting us you shall not:

  • Offer any special benefits or other incentives (including for example any payment) to any person for using the Links on your Site to access the BoyleSports sites.
  • Engage in transactions of any kind on the BoyleSports Sites on behalf of any third party;
  • Modify any of the Links other than in accordance with this Agreement;
  • Place the Links on websites other than your Site as specified in your application form without BoyleSports’ prior written consent;
  • Place digital advertisements on websites providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content.
  • Send any marketing communications relating to BoyleSports via SMS or email without the prior written consent of BoyleSports. place the Links on websites providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content (such as illegal streaming sites or file sharing sites);
  • Artificially increase (or attempt to so do) monies payable to you by BoyleSports;

Promoting West Ham United:
BOYLE Sports are the current official principal partner of West Ham United. As such, we are aware that some of our affiliates may wish to use this partnership for promotional purposes. As football and in particular the Premier League is considered a high-risk category sport in terms of youth appeal by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), there are several requirements that must be adhered to with regards to promoting the BOYLE Sports and West Ham United partnership:

  • Imagery of West Ham players and managerial staff must not be used (UK only requirement)
  • All content marketing that is promoted on social channels must be age-gated, targeting followers aged 25 or above
  • Not include a child or young person. Nobody who is, or seems to be, under 25 years old should be featured in any direct marketing material.
  • Include 18+ sign specifying that content can only be availed by anybody over the age of 18
  • Based on relevant jurisdiction, include Safer Gambling support organisation signposting (such as ‘GambleAware.org’ for UK, or ‘GamblingCare.ie’ for ROI)
  • Include a Social Responsibility message (such as ‘Bet responsibly’)
  • Also, stipulate advertising in ad copy (‘AD’)

To limit the potential for ads to appeal strongly to under-18s, references to ‘activities’ that are the subject of the gambling product being advertised must be limited to:

  • Text or audio references to the activity/product
  • Generic depictions of the sport or game
  • Logos of teams/competitions that are subject of a product
  • Advertisers brand logos/identifiers

The above is by no means an exhaustive list, but the basic requirements BOYLE Sports require when advertising our partnership with West Ham United. Please see the rest of this Code of Conduct for further requirement adherence information.
Further ASA protecting under-18s guidance can be located at the link below:

https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/protecting-children-and-young-people-gambling-guidance-2022.html

1.2 Social Media

  • Be careful when talking about offers and promotions, especially on Twitter where there are limited characters. Try and reference terms and conditions and stick to the copy of the offer/promotion.
  • We have creative specifically made for Facebook and Twitter. Don’t try and crop or adjust images yourself – if you need something for social media, or any other creative in a specific size, let us know.
  • Be mindful of the CAP ‘content marketing’ guidance. Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

1.3 Third Party Data

  • Using email lists, mobile lists, cold calling or any other third-party data is prohibited. All data should be opted in and your site should have links to Privacy, Cookie and Data Protection information.

1.4 PPC

  • If you hold a license to promote gambling in the UK and Ireland on AdWords or Bing (including Yahoo), you’re prohibited from promoting BoyleSports as a brand or by using generic terms linked directly to our pages.
  • Reach out to your affiliate manager for a full list of brand keywords.

1.5 Children and Young People

  • You shall promote the BoyleSports Sites in a socially responsible manner, with particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited;
  • Gambling is an adult product and shouldn’t be promoted to children. Occasionally there are creatives that can appeal to children and it’s up to you as an affiliate to age gate that creative if you choose to use it.
  • Individuals who are or appear to be under 25 years old are explicitly prohibited from appearing in gambling marketing communications so you must be careful what you’re targeting.
  • As per ASA guidance we request you to make better use of targeting tools to minimise children’s exposure to dynamically served age-restricted ads in mixed-age audience sites, e.g., YouTube.
  • Gambling ads must not be likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. They go on state, for example ads will not be able to use:
  • Topflight footballers and footballers with a considerable following among under-18 on social media.
  • All sportspeople well-known to under-18s, including sportspeople with a considerable volume of under-18 followers on social media.
  • References to video game content and gameplay popular with under-18s.
  • Stars from reality shows popular with under-18s, such as Love Island.

1.6 Your Content & Responsibilities

  • As an affiliate you can’t promote our products alongside anything to do with alcohol, sex, violence or any messaging that suggests gambling can improve quality life, is a viable method of generating income or in any benefits physical and mental health.
  • Any creative assets, including homemade banners that are used to promote BoyleSports offers must be approved by your account manager before being published. Any homemade creative assets, promoting BoyleSports offers that has not been approved by an account manager may lead to the termination of your account and removal from the Affiliate program.
  • If you think your website content might interfere with any of the above, please reach us on affiliates@boylesports.com and ask for a confirmation.
  • Gambling is an adult entertainment product so should be treated as such.
  • One of the Gambling Commission of Great Britain’s objectives is preventing gambling from being a source of crime. Tackling unlicensed gambling is central to the Commission’s objectives. The Commission have discovered licensed software appearing on the illegal market via unlicensed websites available to Great British (GB) consumers. Where any affiliate identifies any such activity of non-compliance, they are required to notify the Commission and BoyleSports immediately.

1.7 Legislation and Regulatory Bodies

BoyleSports is regulated and legislated by several Government bodies and laws, including but not limited to the following:

a) the UK Gambling Act 2005;
b) the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) issued by the Gambling Commission;
c) the CAP/BCAP Code issued by the Advertising Standards Authority;
d) Betting and Gaming Council (BGC)
e) the IGRG Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising;
f) the Competition and Markets Authority
g) the PECR Regulations issued by the Information Commissioner’s office.
h) the Data Protection Act 2018
i) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
j) Terrorism Act 2000
k) Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2018
l) The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017
m) The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019
n) Gibraltar Gambling Authority

By promoting BoyleSports as an affiliate, you’re agreeing to follow our own guidelines and the guidelines set out by regulatory and legislative bodies, including the licensing objectives set out in the Gambling Act 2005:
a) preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;
b) ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way;
c) protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

BoyleSports expects you to ensure that at all times you comply with all laws in the jurisdiction that apply to your use of our service and you warrant to us that our services are not illegal in the jurisdictions where you operate.

1.8 Data Protection

The ICO’s PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) govern electronic marketing messages and contain specific rules on marketing calls, emails, texts and faxes.

Regulation 22 states that electronic marketing communications can only be sent to individuals who:

  • have specifically consented to receiving such communications (opt-in);
  • are an existing customer who bought (or negotiated to buy) a similar product or service in the past, and have been given a simple way to opt out both when their details were first collected and, in every message, subsequently sent to them

Electronic marketing communications must also provide a valid contact address to customers, so they can opt out or unsubscribe.
This rule applies to emails, texts, picture messages, video messages, voicemails, direct messages via social media or any similar message that is stored electronically.
Additional points of consideration:

  • Marketing databases must have been acquired lawfully, with specific and obvious content given to market the receiver of the correspondence
  • Self-excluded customers must be removed from all marketing databases immediately
  • Customers who choose to opt-out of marketing must be removed from the database with immediate effect
  • All marketing material must be clearly identifiable as such, and details of the marketer (the Affiliate) must be clearly presented in the advert

This guidance will likely change as part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which will come into force in May 2018. Please see refer to the link below for more information about the guidance.

1.9 COVID-19 Pandemic – Marketing

We would like to make it clear that current COVID-19 pandemic must not be used as part of any marketing strategy that relates to any of our sportsbook or casino products.

We expect you to act responsibly, be mindful of vulnerable people experiencing financial uncertainty, whilst others may be experiencing other effects of being isolated including feelings of anxiety, loneliness or boredom.

You must not exploit the current COVID-19 situation for marketing purposes and refrain from cross-selling our gaming or sportsbook products in any pandemic-related context.

Any affiliates found not adhering to this instruction will have their accounts suspended with immediate effect.

Rest assured that we continue our operations on business as usual and as always are happy to help with any queries you may have.

Ensure you are promoting BoyleSports in-line with the Gambling Commission Compliance Guidelines, see useful links section below.

2.0 App Stores & in-app/in-game advertising

As App Stores, in-app, and in-game advertising becomes more popular BoyleSports would like to highlight the following:

  • Affiliates should familiarise themselves with the rules around children and advertising when preparing advertising for app stores or in-app/game, as the content of ads such as these needs to be targeted appropriately. Please see section 1.5 above entitled ‘Children and Young People’.
  • Ads that appear in-app or in-game should also be clearly labelled as ads and not disguised as part of the apps or game’s content.
  • Similarly, Advergames which typically are electronic games used to advertise a product, brand or an organisation are also covered by the CAP (ASA) advertising rules and should not mislead or cause harm and offence.
  • Advertising targeting and exclusion controls must be used responsibly, only targeting age appropriate apps, and must adhere to all Advertising Standards Authority codes.

2.1 Useful Links

The ASA has provided guidance for each element explained above. Please refer to the links below for further information: