The ASA Fires Warning After Finding 15% of Gambling Ads on Social Media are Non-Compliant

The UK’s advertising watchdog has warned that gambling operators are continually breaching their rules when advertising on social media platforms.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed that as many as 15% of ads placed on Meta platforms fail to comply with their guidelines.

And the ASA has warned that it plans to take ‘targeted action’ against those firms that continue with their non-compliance.

Stringent Rules

The ASA, by definition, has put in place a series of rules governing how betting firms are able to advertise online – with the specific aim of preventing gambling harm.

All ads must be considered to be ‘socially responsible’, without appealing to an audience of under-18s and other vulnerable groups.

Any ad that features a current footballer, celebrity or sporting personality is likely to appeal to under-18s, while anyone aged 24 or younger is banned from appearing in gambling marketing.

Last year, those guidelines were updated to include all gambling operators that target UK customers – whether based domestically or overseas. Any betting brand that is licensed by the Gambling Commission has to expressly commit to complying with the Advertising Code set out by the ASA.

However, a recent test study undertaken by the regulator found that a staggering number of ads placed on Meta’s platforms, as well as X, breached these basic rules.

Having examined nearly 400 posts, the ASA found that 15% were not immediately compliant – 10% were filed as ‘requiring further investigation’, with the remaining 5% described as being ‘clearly problematic’ and escalated for enforcement action.

As for what enforcement powers the ASA has, they can call for ads to be removed by social media platforms if the operator doesn’t respond to demands to take them down. But moving forward, their actions may become more stringent.

“We will also be issuing a sector-wide enforcement notice which will set our expectations for gambling operators who advertise using content marketing techniques,” a spokesperson commented.

“That enforcement notice will set a defined period for compliance following which we will take targeted action against non-compliant gambling operators’ advertising.”

The ASA has already taken action against an adjacent niche, with creators of video games that contain ‘loot boxes’ now having to explicitly disclose the presence of the gambling-related feature in their descriptions.

Taking Action

The advertising watchdog has been moved to comment after a pair of gambling ads were sent to them for further scrutiny this month.

The odds comparison site Oddschecker had taken to Instagram to publish a post about Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane, who they revealed to be one of the most bet-upon players for the Ballon d’Or.

They claimed that the nature of their ad was informational, rather than transactional, however the ASA ruled that Kane – as a current England international – held obvious appeal for the under-18s audience.

Even setting accounts and posts to 18+ is not a viable defence, confirmed the ASA, as many Instagram users have been able to circumnavigate age verification rules by entering a fake date of birth when creating their account.

A similar post made by Oddschecker, which featured Erling Haaland, was also prohibited for the same reasons.

However, a complaint made against Betway was not upheld. They had created an ad featuring Thierry Henry, however the ASA held the view that he has been retired from professional football for long enough that he no longer holds a strong appeal with an under-18s audience.

“These were important investigations and subsequent rulings,” a spokesperson said. “They underscore how and when our rules extend to organic posts on betting companies’ social media feeds. And they usefully demonstrate how the strong appeal rules and guidance are applied to gambling ads.”