From tennis stars to football icons: ASA upholds complaints against gambling ads aimed at young people

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has been very active recently in the gambling industry, with yet another two new rulings being published in respect of the new gambling advertising rules that came into force in the UK last year.

On 1 October 2022, a new gambling advertising rule came into force (a summary of which can be read here) which strengthened the obligations on gambling operators to ensure the content of their ads is not appealing to under-18s, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture (the “New Rules”). At the time, questions were raised as to what a “strong appeal” really means, but the emergence of a string of rulings since then has provided useful insight into what the ASA is likely to consider falling within scope. The ASA has upheld rulings against adverts that featured “star” footballers (see here) and also upheld two tweets promoted by Ladbrokes featuring images of Jake Paul, and Eddie Howe, David Moyes, Frank Lampard, Brendan Rodgers and Gary O’Neil (see here). However, the ASA did not consider other sports stars, including Peter Crouch, Micah Richards (see here) or Chris Eubank Jr. (see here), to appeal strongly to young people.

In their latest decisions, on 9 August, the ASA rebuked LC International (trading as Ladbrokes) (“Ladbrokes”) for including top men’s tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas, in promoted tweets; and on 16 August 2023, the ASA upheld a complaint concerning a tweet published by Sky Sports’ Premier League Twitter account, promoted by Hillside (UK Sports) ENC (trading as bet365) (“bet365”).

All complaints were upheld as all tweets concerned were ruled as likely to appeal to under-18s, in breach of the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising (“CAP Code”).

The Adverts

Ladbrokes Tweets

The ASA used a new AI monitoring system to search online for suspect ads, which flagged Ladbrokes’ use of tennis stars in the tweets as improper. There were four promoted tweets for Ladbrokes, seen in January and February 2023:

1. The first tweet stated, “Which four players will qualify for the Australian Open 2023 Men’s Singles semi-finals? [thinking emoji]. Name the players you expect to make the cut. [tennis ball emoji] #AusOpen #AO2023”. The tweet was accompanied by an image of four tennis players and a list of four matches. The name and a picture of Novak Djokovic was included in that image. Text on the image stated “AUS OPEN 2023 – MEN’S QUARTERS”.
    
2. The second tweet stated, “Who will win the first Men’s Grand Slam of 2023 [trophy emoji]. Vote now [pointing down emoji]. #AusOpen #AO2023”. The tweet was complemented by images of four players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios, and contained a poll where Twitter users could vote for the player they thought would win the tournament.
    
3. The third tweet stated, “[star emoji] History Maker [star emoji]. Novak Djokovic’s 27th consecutive win at the #AusOpen is the longest men’s singles winning streak in the Open Era. The legendary Serb has not lost a game in Melbourne since 2018. Are you backing him for a fourth-straight #AO2023 title? [trophy emoji]”. The tweet was alongside an image of Novak Djokovic, with text stating, “UNBEATEN AT MELBOURNE PARK SINCE 2018. 27 CONSECUTIVE AUSTRALIAN OPEN WINS”.
    
4. The fourth tweet stated, “Novak Djokovic is the @AustralianOpen 2023 men’s champion! The legendary Serb downed Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6, in an incredible Melbourne final. This is Novak’s – frankly outrageous – 10th Aussie Open title! [praising emoji]”. The tweet was accompanied by an image of Novak Djokovic, with text stating “DJOKOVIC’S 10TH AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITLE. AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023 MEN’S CHAMPION!”.

Bet365 Promotion

A tweet published in February 2023 by Sky Sports’ Premier League Twitter account, promoted by bet365, contained the text “Granit Xhaka pulled out this stunning finish last season in Arsenal vs Man United”. The tweet featured an embedded video of a footballer taking a corner kick. As the footballer kicked the ball, a green digital circle appeared around him. The ball then travelled through the air, leaving a green triangle in its wake. The tweet concluded with the appearance of the bet365 logo.

The video then transitioned to footage of a football match between Arsenal and Manchester United. The footage showed Granit Xhaka scoring a goal, as the crowd cheered. The final score of the match then appeared on the video.

Ladbrokes Response

Ladbrokes said that the four tweets were not intended to advertise their products or services, but rather to provide editorial content that would engage their audience. Two of the tweets celebrated Novak Djokovic's recent success, while the other two were polls about the Australian Open. Ladbrokes acknowledged that the tweets featured prominent tennis players, but they asserted that they had taken steps to ensure that the tweets would not appeal to under-18s.

Specifically, Ladbrokes assessed the likelihood of each player appealing to under-18s by considering their media profile, follower demographics, and sponsorship partnerships. They found that the vast majority of the players' followers were over the age of 21, and that the players had partnerships with brands that appealed to adults. Ladbrokes also said that they had targeted the ads on social media to only reach people who were over 25 years old.

The data showed that the ads had only reached a small number of under-18s. Ladbrokes believed that this was a statistical outlier and requested clarification from Twitter about why this had happened.

In conclusion, Ladbrokes said that they had taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the tweets would not appeal to under-18s, and that the small number of impressions that had reached this age group were likely to be an anomaly.

Bet365 Response

Bet365 used Twitter's Amplify feature to promote their ad in front of a Sky Sports Premier League video. The Amplify feature allows advertisers to place their ads before the main video content of a tweet. In this case, the main video content and text of the tweet were produced by Sky Sports. Bet365 wanted their ad to look like a traditional television ad that appears before a sporting event. To do this, they used Twitter's Amplify feature to place their ad in front of a Sky Sports Premier League video. The Sky Sports video was produced by Sky Sports, and the Bet365 ad was produced by Bet365. The two pieces of content were separate, and the Bet365 ad only appeared for 5 seconds before the Sky Sports video started.

Bet365 said that they targeted their ad to users over the age of 25. The ad was only 5 seconds long, while the Sky Sports video was 21 seconds long. Bet365 believed that the ad was not seen by anyone under the age of 25.

Bet365 argued that they had controls in place to ensure that their Amplify content was only promoted to users over the age of 25. They also ensured that no individuals with strong appeal to young persons were included in their pre-roll advertising. The Bet365 ad was only 5 seconds long, and it was shown before a 21-second Sky Sports Premier League video. This means that only a small percentage of users (0.2%) who saw the ad were under the age of 18.

Bet365 provided details of Granit Xhaka's audience demographics on Instagram and TikTok at the request of the ASA. They said that Xhaka does not have a public profile on Twitter. On Instagram, 0.4% of his followers are under the age of 18. On TikTok, 32.3% of his followers are under the age of 18. This means that 3.38% of his total audience is under the age of 18.

Bet365 also said that they do not have a TikTok profile or presence and they do not carry out any marketing on that platform. This means that it is unlikely that their ad was seen by any users under the age of 18 on TikTok.

Sky Sports was not aware of any complaints about the tweet. They declined to comment further. Meanwhile, Twitter said that the promoted tweet did not violate their advertising policies. They were not aware of any complaints about the tweet, but said that if the complaint was upheld, the ad would be removed.

The ASA Ruling

Ladbrokes ASA Ruling

• The ASA noted that the CAP Code considers prominent sportspeople, including tennis players at the highest level with a significant national profile, to be high risk in terms of how likely they are to be of strong appeal to under-18s.
• The ads featured four tennis players: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. All four players had appeared in a Grand Slam final in the previous year. Djokovic and Nadal were both former world number one players and had the joint record for the most Grand Slam titles won. Kyrgios had reached the final of Wimbledon in 2022, and Tsitsipas had reached the final of the Australian Open in 2023.
• Because of these factors, the ASA considered that all four players were "star" players with a high profile in tennis. They would be considered high risk according to the CAP Code, and therefore likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.
• However, the ASA acknowledged that the data provided by Ladbrokes showed that the majority of the followers each player had on social media were over 18 and that their commercial partnerships were with adult focused brands.
• Although Ladbrokes provided data on the age of the players' social media followers and their commercial partnerships, the ASA still considered that the players featured in the ads were likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s. The ASA believes that it would have been acceptable for the ads to appear in a medium where under-18s could be entirely excluded from the audience. This would apply in circumstances where those who saw the ads had been robustly age-verified, such as through marketing lists that had been validated by payment data or credit checking. However, the ASA did not consider that marketing data inferred from user behaviour met this threshold.
• The ASA acknowledged that Ladbrokes had targeted the ads at people over 25. However, because Twitter is a media environment where users self-verify their age on customer sign-up, and does not use robust age-verification, the ASA did not believe that Ladbrokes had excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for ads that are likely to appeal strongly to this age group.
• For those reasons, the ASA concluded the ads were irresponsible and breached the Code.

Bet365 ASA Ruling

• The ASA found that the tweet was an ad for bet365 because bet365 had promoted it into its own users' Twitter feeds.
• The ASA noted that football is an activity that is popular with under-18s and that UK footballers who play for top clubs are considered high-risk in terms of how likely they are to be of strong appeal to under-18s under the CAP Code.
• The ad included Granit Xhaka, who is a well-known footballer who plays for Arsenal Football Club and the Swiss national team. The ASA considered that Xhaka was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s under the CAP Code.
• Similar to the Ladbroke’s ASA ruling above, the ASA considered that it would have been acceptable for the ad to appear in a medium where under-18s could be entirely excluded from the audience. However, Twitter is a media environment where users self-identify on customer sign-up and does not use robust age-verification. Therefore, the ASA considered that bet365 had not excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for ads the content of which was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.
• For these reasons, the ASA concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the CAP Code.

Next Steps

The following key takeaways stood out for us:

1. Both rulings are consistent with the ASA's recent crackdown on gambling ads featuring football players. The ASA has emphasised that there is no hierarchy of evidence when considering whether a personality is likely to appeal to young people. In each case, Ladbrokes and bet365 provided data on the age of the players' social media followers, their commercial partnerships and provided information on how further controls were place with Twitter to ensure that content was directed to users over the age of 25. However, the ASA found that this data was not enough to outweigh the high profiles of the sports personalities featured on the ads, who were all considered to be high risk according to the CAP Code.
    
2. Both rulings provide further insight into the ASA’s perception of age verification mechanisms. The rulings reinforce that the ASA consider the self-certification process on Twitter to be insufficient to exclude under-18s - even if the data produced showed that a very small minority of under-18s viewed the advert, the ASA didn’t accept this as a reliable reflection of the actual audience in practice.
    
3. Advertisers need to be careful when choosing individuals or characters to feature in gambling ads. They need to consider the overall profile and appeal of the person or character, beyond the specific context of the ad. The Ladbrokes ruling against featuring tennis players showed that the "star" status of these players is considered high risk under the CAP Code and contributed to the ads' appeal to under-18s. Meanwhile, the bet365 ruling emphasised that the wider demographic of football and the player (who plays for Arsenal Football Club and his national team) is automatically considered high risk under the CAP code and largely contributed to the ads’ appeal to under-18s.

Overall, the rulings act as a reminder to gambling advertisers to be vigilant in complying with advertising standards and to carefully assess the potential appeal of their promotions to young audiences, before launching an ad.