A pair of UK gambling firms have landed in hot water with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Adverts for two operators, Kwiff and Betway, have been banned following complaints lodged to the UK’s regulator of advertising.
Last month, the ASA ruled that a voucher promotion in William Hill betting shops encouraged irresponsible gambling.
In Kwiff’s case, the violation occurred from a July social media post that featured a picture of Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton with a banner across the bottom that featured an 18+ symbol and the BeGambleAware.org logo.
The complaint was submitted by a researcher from the University of Bristol, who challenged whether the ad included an individual who was likely to be of great appeal to children and therefore broke the rules.
The company behind Kwiff, Eaton Gate Gaming, argued its data indicated Hamilton appealed to an older audience rather than those aged under 18.
Despite their protests, Kwiff reviewed all social media accounts and removed content that included mainstream sportspeople.
The ASA said Hamilton’s 150,000 under-18 UK Instagram followers alone indicated the appeal and that number would be much greater if including X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
In a statement, the regulator wrote: “We acknowledged that Sir Lewis Hamilton was primarily famous for his association with an adult-oriented sport but considered he was very well known to a general UK audience, including to children and young people.
“We considered, based on his public profile, commercial partnerships, media appearances and UK under-18 social media following, that he had strong appeal to under-18s.
“For those reasons, we concluded the ad was irresponsible and breached the code.”
In June, leading British bookmaker Ladbrokes found themselves in a sticky situation over their game currency ‘LadBucks’ which was likened to Fortnite’s V-bucks, ruled to have targeted under-18s.
As for Betway, a YouTube ad by the firm was banned as it featured football fans wearing clothing and scarves with the Chelsea FC badge. Betway believed it had the contractual right to use the logo in its role as the club’s official European betting partner.
Betway countered the ASA by arguing if the ad was found to be in breach of advertising rules it could set a damaging precedent for gambling sponsorships in sport.
The ASA concluded it would’ve been fine for the logo to appear in a standalone context, like at the end of the ad, but due to it featuring on scarves, lanyards, hats and team shirts it was ruled to be of strong appeal to children or young people who supported Chelsea.
Joe Lyons is a betting industry writer for GamblingIndustryNews with years of experience on reputable gambling websites. Joe specialises in long form content in the world of sports betting and gambling. Joe is recognised as an expert in sports fields such as horse racing, soccer, NFL and NBA.
