ASA Draws New Line On Gambling Ads Featuring Active Football Stars

The Advertising Standards Authority recently banned Instagram posts featuring Harry Kane and Erling Haaland - and it caught the news. What didn’t catch the news as much was the simultaneous ruling involving Thierry Henry and the ASA’s official verdict on why the two cases had such different outcomes.

The decisions offer one of the clearest indications yet of how the regulator now views active elite footballers in gambling marketing. In particular, those in ads on social media platforms accessible to younger audiences.

The ruling against Oddschecker centred on Instagram posts featuring Kane and Haaland. The ASA concluded both players held ‘strong appeal’ to under-18s, making the content socially irresponsible under UK gambling advertising rules. This ruling came despite the fact that Oddschecker had set up the posts to only be shown to 18+ audiences.

In total contrast, the regulator ruled that a separate Betway post, featuring former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, was permitted. The ASA concluded Henry’s primary public role is now as a television pundit rather than an active footballer. This, in their view, reduces his appeal to under-18 audiences.

These differing outcomes underline what increasingly appears to be a key dividing line for gambling advertisers:

Active players remain highly problematic, while retired personalities may still be acceptable.

Social Media Under Growing Scrutiny

ASA released a lengthy statement just a day after the rulings, outlining its broader crackdown on gambling content marketing.

The regulator said it had reviewed almost 400 gambling-related Meta posts between August 2025 and March 2026. Of these, around 5% were deemed ‘clearly problematic’ and are now progressing toward enforcement action.

An important nuance that the ASA stressed is that gambling operators’ ‘organic’ social posts can still fall within advertising rules if they are judged to be promoting gambling products or services.

One of the key issues drawn with ASA’s Oddschecker ruling was that Oddschecker had used age restrictions on its post. However. ASA pushed back on this, responding that there are a ‘a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up’.

Although it’s not crystal clear yet, this position could create additional compliance pressure for operators relying heavily on football culture, memes, player imagery and social-first engagement strategies.

ASA Defends Gambling Advertising Framework

ASA took a firmer stance on youth appeal within social content. However, they also strongly defended the broader legality of gambling advertising within Britain’s regulated market.

ASA stated that gambling advertising itself remains lawful under the Gambling Act 2005 and reinforced that ‘It is not our role to determine whether gambling advertising should exist’.

Instead, the regulator framed its role as one of social responsibility, ensuring ads remain do not directly target children or vulnerable groups.

They finished by confirming that further guidance for gambling operators will be published in June. This will come alongside a sector-wide enforcement notice covering content marketing practices on social media.