Prohibit Advertising Near Schools and Youth Facilities

Ban gambling billboards and outdoor advertising within 500 feet of schools, playgrounds, and youth facilities, matching the distance most states already use for liquor advertising.

What it does: Prohibits sports wagering advertising on billboards, signs, and other outdoor or digital out-of-home displays located within 500 feet of a school, playground, child-care facility, or other youth-serving location. An optional module extends the same 500-foot buffer to geofenced mobile ads targeted at those areas.

Protects minors from cue exposure: children and adolescents who pass schools and playgrounds cannot legally bet, and exposure to gambling advertising is associated with stronger intentions to wager and the normalization of betting among youth.
Mirrors how states already treat alcohol: many states bar outdoor alcohol advertising within 500 feet of schools and youth sites, so applying the same buffer to gambling gives regulators a familiar, administrable standard.
Narrowly tailored to survive review: a fixed buffer around youth-sensitive locations targets the highest-risk placements without a blanket ban, the posture courts have upheld for alcohol and rejected when tobacco rules swept across an entire city.
Objective and auditable: distance from a school is a measurable fact, so the rule can be enforced as a license condition without subjective intent tests.
A floor that can pass on its own: a state that will not enact a full public-place advertising ban can still adopt the school buffer, and where the broader ban does pass, this keeps the school protection in place even if that ban is later narrowed.

Sources

Notes to Drafters

Replace bracketed references such as [STATE] and [STATE GAMING COMMISSION] with local statutory terms.
Suggested distance (starting point): 500 feet. This is the most common buffer in state liquor-advertising law (for example, Virginia, Ohio, and Washington, and the San Diego model ordinance). A state that wants a wider buffer can use 1,000 feet, the distance used for cannabis advertising (for example, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 26152) and once proposed for tobacco; keep any larger buffer targeted to youth-serving sites so it is not characterized as a near-total ban.
Measurement. The draft measures 500 feet from the nearest boundary of the youth-serving location's property. An optional "same side of the [road/street]" limiter, used in Virginia's alcohol statute, narrows the rule further and can ease constitutional concerns.
Optional digital module. Section 5 extends the same 500-foot buffer to geofenced mobile advertising: it bars an Operator from targeting sports wagering ads at devices within 500 feet of a school, while not penalizing an incidental impression the Operator did not target. Delete it for an outdoor-only bill.
Variance valve (optional). Section 6 lets the Commission permit a placement on a finding that it will not unduly expose minors, mirroring Virginia's alcohol-advertising statute. States that prefer a bright-line rule can delete it.
Constitutional footing. Targeted youth-area placement limits for alcohol have been upheld (Anheuser-Busch v. Schmoke, 4th Cir. 1995), while a 1,000-foot tobacco advertising ban that blanketed most of a metro area was struck down (Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly, 533 U.S. 525 (2001)). Gambling advertising is not federally preempted, but the same "do not sweep too broadly" tailoring lesson applies: keep the buffer tied to schools and youth sites, not a whole jurisdiction.
Penalties: $25,000 per prohibited placement is a workable baseline and matches the companion advertising bill; consider escalation for repeat placements.

Draft Bill Text

CASPR is available for legal and technical support adapting this bill to specific state contexts.

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A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO MOBILE SPORTS WAGERING; PROHIBITING SPORTS WAGERING ADVERTISING
WITHIN 500 FEET OF SCHOOLS AND OTHER YOUTH-SERVING LOCATIONS; PROVIDING FOR A
VARIANCE, ENFORCEMENT, AND PENALTIES; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF [STATE]:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Sports Wagering Advertising School Buffer Act".

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(1) Findings. The Legislature finds that:
(A) persons below the legal wagering age cannot lawfully engage in sports wagering in this State;
(B) outdoor advertising near schools, playgrounds, and similar locations exposes minors to sports
wagering promotions in places they cannot avoid, and such exposure is associated with increased
intention to wager and the normalization of gambling among youth; and
(C) this State and many others already restrict outdoor advertising of alcoholic beverages within a
fixed distance of schools and youth-serving locations.

(2) Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to reduce minors' exposure to sports wagering advertising by
prohibiting such advertising within a fixed distance of schools and other youth-serving locations,
consistent with established distance-based restrictions on the advertising of other age-restricted
products.

SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) "Commission" means the [STATE GAMING COMMISSION] or successor agency.

(2) "Operator" means a person licensed or otherwise authorized under [STATE LAW] to conduct mobile sports
wagering in this State.

(3) "Sports wagering advertising" means any communication, regardless of medium, that:
(A) promotes sports wagering;
(B) promotes an Operator, sportsbook brand, or sports wagering application; or
(C) offers an inducement or bonus related to sports wagering.

(4) "Outdoor advertising" means a sign, billboard, poster, placard, mural, display, or other fixed
advertising that is visible from a public right-of-way, and includes a digital or electronic display
such as a digital billboard or a transit display.

(5) "School" means any public, private, or parochial nursery school, preschool, kindergarten, elementary
school, middle school, or secondary school, and includes the grounds of such a school.

(6) "Youth-serving location" means a School, a public or private playground, a child day-care facility, a
public park or recreational facility primarily used by minors, a public library, or a youth center.

(7) "Covered distance" means 500 linear feet, measured along the shortest straight-line distance from the
nearest point of the Sports wagering advertising to the nearest boundary of the property on which the
Youth-serving location is situated.

SECTION 4. PROHIBITION ON ADVERTISING NEAR YOUTH-SERVING LOCATIONS.
(a) Prohibition. An Operator shall not place, purchase, or cause to be placed any Sports wagering
advertising on Outdoor advertising located within the Covered distance of a Youth-serving location.

(b) Existing placements. Within [180] days after the effective date of this Act, an Operator shall remove
or cause to be removed any Sports wagering advertising that does not comply with subsection (a).

(c) Sponsorship and naming rights. An Operator shall not purchase naming rights or sponsorship placements
for a Youth-serving location, or for an event held at such a location, that include Sports wagering
advertising.

(d) No circumvention. An Operator shall not use an agent, affiliate, or other person to place Sports
wagering advertising that the Operator could not place directly under this Section.

[SECTION 5. OPTIONAL: GEOTARGETED DIGITAL ADVERTISING.
(a) Prohibition. An Operator shall not purchase, place, or cause to be delivered Sports wagering
advertising that is geographically targeted, in whole or in part, to reach devices located within the
Covered distance of a Youth-serving location.

(b) Targeting, not incidental delivery. This Section restricts an Operator's geographic targeting of
advertising. It does not impose liability for an individual impression delivered to a device that enters
the Covered distance when the Operator did not target that area.

(c) Records. On request of the Commission, an Operator shall provide the geographic targeting parameters
used for its Sports wagering advertising.]

[SECTION 6. OPTIONAL: VARIANCE.
(a) The Commission may, on written application, permit Sports wagering advertising otherwise prohibited by
Section 4 if the Commission finds that the placement will not unduly expose minors to the advertising,
taking into account sight lines, screening, the orientation of the advertising, and the typical presence
of minors at the Youth-serving location.

(b) A variance shall be in writing, shall state its duration, and may be revoked if conditions change.]

SECTION 7. ENFORCEMENT; PENALTIES; RULEMAKING.
(a) License condition. Compliance with this Act is a condition of licensure.

(b) Civil penalties. The Commission may impose a civil penalty of up to [$25,000] per violation. Each
prohibited placement, and each day a prohibited placement remains in place after the period in
Section 4(b), constitutes a separate violation.

(c) Rulemaking. The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this Act, including the method of measuring
the Covered distance and procedures for any variance.

SECTION 8. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act or its application is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other
provisions or applications of this Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SECTION 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act takes effect on [DATE].