ASA continues push against UK gambling adverts with 'strong appeal' to children

The UK’s Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) recently refreshed its guidance on protecting under 18s in gambling advertising, focusing on the application of the "strong appeal" test introduced in 2022. CAP's clarification of its guidance on social media "appeal" to children in UK gambling offers clearer metrics and revised sports categories for operators to assess ads.

The three rulings are hot on the heels of the updated guidance and highlight that under-18 protection is a priority area of focus for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Advertisers will be looking to consider taking extra measures when assessing talent, content and placement in their marketing communications. 

Use of team logos 

The ASA has upheld a complaint against Betway Ltd's advert featuring the Chelsea FC logo on scarves and hats worn by fans that were featured in the advert. The guidance makes clear that football is an activity of inherently strong appeal to under 18s. Betway sought to rely on an exemption set out in the guidance that allows content identifying a subject of the gambling activity, such as team logos, to be included in an ad where the "products" advertised are associated with a subject of strong appeal. In this case, the product was the Betway rewards scheme where the prizes offered include stadium tours.

Betway had taken other measures to attempt to reduce the appeal by not featuring any live football, using wide stadium shots and only featuring adults who are real competition winners. The ASA agreed that a logo can be permissible; however, it concluded that its use embedded in a fan-setting amplified the strong appeal of football and attracted under 18s, particularly Chelsea supporters, and so the challenge was upheld.

The practical takeaway for advertisers is that logos are in the scope of ASA review and therefore, should be used sparingly and only as neutral identifiers, ideally as a still image at the end of the advert. Where content is fan-centric or is set in a fan-experience context, logos should not be embedded in this content. 

High-risk number of social media followers

The ASA also reviewed and republished an existing ruling against Sky Bet featuring a clip from "The Overlap", a football debate show hosted by Gary Neville. Sky Bet argued that Neville has long been retired and therefore the risk of his strong appeal to under 18s was only "moderate" under the guidance, due to the fact that he is now known primarily as a pundit and political commentator. The ASA did review Neville in this context and agreed that live football punditry does not hold the same interest for young people as live football.

However, decisive weight was placed on the social media data available, as Gary Neville had approximately 135,000 under-18 followers on Instagram and X at the time of the post, which was viewed as a significant number in absolute terms to mean that the risk of strong appeal was high and the challenge to the ad was upheld. Although the initial ruling was based on the CAP guidance before the update, advertisers should be aware that the new rule of thumb frames 100,000 under-18 followers as indicative of strong appeal. Even where the proportion of overall under-18 followers is low, these small percentages can translate into large absolute numbers for high-profile personalities. 

Separate the star from the sport

In the third recent ASA ruling on strong appeal to under 18s, an X post made by Eaton Gate Gaming Ltd (which trades as Kwiff) featuring an image of Lewis Hamilton was challenged. After it was concluded that the ad fell within the scope of the CAP Code, as it was connected to betting services by its link to an article with race odds, the ASA reviewed Lewis Hamilton's appeal to under 18s. Kwiff referred to the guidance that was in place at the time which classified Formula 1 as a sport unlikely to be of inherent strong appeal to under 18s. However, the ASA determined that the inclusion of a notable public figure shifted the risk category. Like Gary Neville, Lewis Hamilton's total under-18s following was deemed a significant absolute number, with an estimate of 150,000 on Instagram alone. In the absence of full breakdowns in the UK for X and Facebook, the ASA cautioned that very large followings can signal elevated under-18 followers and advertisers should be careful to not be over reliant on rough estimates.

In addition to the social media followers, the ASA also considered qualitative factors that have an impact on Hamilton's youth appeal, and looked at Hamilton’s appearance in the PEGI 3‑rated F1 video game, the children’s merchandise and toys bearing his image, and even a recent CBeebies Bedtime Story appearance. Collectively, these factors strengthened the conclusion that Hamilton had strong appeal to under 18s.

Previously, motorsport was designated a low-risk sport as it was "clearly adult-oriented". Whether an individual sport is now high or low risk will depend on whether it is "adult-centric" or "non-adult-centric", which will be determined on the evidence (or lack thereof) of significant participation or viewership among under 18s. Advertisers should be mindful that, even if an advert contains a personality associated with a non-adult-centric sport, other quantitative and qualitative factors will be determined by the ASA.

Platforms and age-gating

Where an advert includes content with a potential strong appeal to under 18s, the ASA has confirmed that this content should appear only where under 18s can be entirely excluded from the audience. In rulings centred on youth appeal, the ASA consistently refers to Ofcom data and research that confirms that the self-declaration of age on most social media platforms is not robust to prevent high under-18 usage.

Platforms are introducing multi-step age verification processes as they are now required to do under the Online Safety Act 2023. Gambling advertisers must be aware that, even with the adoption of these enhanced measures across social media platforms, this alone cannot be relied on to satisfy CAP's requirement that under 18s are excluded entirely from the audience. Unless there is robust evidence that the age-gating measures on a platform suitably excludes under 18s, advertisers should continue to treat all social platforms as environments containing under-18 users and ensure that any potentially high-risk elements in their ads are removed.

Osborne Clarke comment

These rulings, together with the updates to the guidance, make it clear that this remains an issue that is high on the ASA's agenda. Evidence‑based judgment and conservative creative choices will be the safest route to compliant, effective advertising.

Practical steps that gambling operators and their marketing agencies might be considering as a result of these rulings include:

• Exercise caution with logos. Team and tournament logos and marks are permitted but only as neutral references. They should not be used in a way that embeds them within settings or scenes with fans, celebrations, or experiences. The contractual rights on logo use currently in place with partners should be aligned with these compliance limitations.
• Screen the data. The new 100,000 rule of thumb should be applied when reviewing the risk of featuring individuals in marketing. The absolute number of followers across all platforms should be prioritised over percentages. Where there is an absence of UK-specific data, this data should be treated with caution. Documents should be kept that explain how social media follower data was sourced and interpreted. If evidence cannot be reliably used to demonstrate a low under-18s social media following, then the individual should not be featured.
• Consider wider factors. When using an individual in marketing, consider whether their broader footprint elevates their youth appeal even if that individual has less than 100,000 under-18 followers or is associated with a non-adult-centric sport.

Oliver Smithson, a trainee solicitor at Osborne Clarke, contributed to this Insight.