RMG License: Getting pre-approved facebook ads for competitions
For many competition businesses, Facebook and Facebook Ads is an important part of creating awareness for competitions and generating revenue. So finding out that your ads have been banned and your account suspended can be stressful. Not to mention the hassle of reaching a real person on the Facebook customer service team!
But it doesn’t need to be that way.
As an organisation, Facebook has always been cautious promoting any activities associated with online gambling. This includes competitions, raffles and draws. Most recently, they’ve been cracking down on ad accounts which are not RMG approved. You can read more about Facebook Advertising policies here.
With the right strategy and process in place, this isn’t as complicated as it all sounds. To get your competition ads pre-approved for Facebook, here’s what you need to do…
Get approval from Facebook to advertise your competitions
If you are using Facebook (as well as Instagram) to promote your competitions, it is likely you’ll be asked to apply for advance approval of your ad account. This involves completing the Online Real Money Gaming (RMG) Application form and the Facebook RMG questionnaire.
During the process, you’ll be asked to select the region you wish to advertise in and the domain name you intend to use. The RMG Questionnaire will also ask you how you will stop unauthorised players from accessing your competition website (i.e. underaged entries or those from an unauthorised territory) and explain how the activity is legal.
A specialist solicitor is also needed for approval
As well as prior written approval from Facebook, you’ll need a letter from a solicitor about the legality of your product in the UK. We recommend working with a legal professional or firm who is experienced in dealing with competition clients and reversing ad account suspensions. In fact, we’ve partnered up with one ourselves as part of our commitment to delivering the very best service to our competition clients!
Why is an RMG Licence important for Facebook Advertising?
As more competition businesses who advertise on Facebook and Instagram without an RMG license are getting ad account bans, we are issuing this advice:
Your website must be live and you must have RMG approval to advertise competitions on Facebook and Instagram. Without an RMG licence, your ad account may be suspended. This means you won’t be able to advertise again until your account is reinstated, which can be a slow process or even a permanent ban.
You should also prepare for your ads account having a spend cap. Facebook limits the amount new accounts can spend to minimise the potential of fraud and exploitation. In order to increase this cap, we recommend that clients with new competition businesses start off by running free competitions and (if RMG approved) paid competitions with smaller prizes. You don’t need to spend the full amount. Over time, Facebook will monitor your business for policy violations and raise your spending limit if they see that your business is trustworthy.
How we can help…
Staying compliant – especially in a grey-area industry – can take up more of your time and energy than it needs to. Think Zap can apply for your RMG approval on your behalf. This means you can direct your attention to other areas of your business, knowing that Team Zap has your back! We have submitted this application countless times and are well versed in the requests from Facebook, so you’ll have the best chances of “jumping through the hoops” quickly. This service £600 for existing companies, or included for clients of Think Zap.
If required, we can also introduce you to a specialist solicitor who can provide your site’s legally compliant terms and conditions and other policies, as well as offer advice towards gaining RMG approval and other areas of your business. The solicitors toolkit is available for £837.
