ASA reprimands BetUK over “irresponsible” radio ad

LeoVegas Group’s BetUK has been found guilty of violating the CAP code of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

In a ruling published today, 13 March, the watchdog found challenger bookmaker BetUK’s radio ad had a strong appeal to under-18s.

The commercial, heard on 27 September 2023, featured retired footballer and current brand ambassador Adebayo Akinfenwa saying: “You can now find a range of tools on the BetUK website. You can set deposit limits, schedule reality checks and set timeouts to help you stay in control. Always gamble responsibly at BetUK.”

The operator argued the advert did not appeal to a younger audience due to Akinfenwa’s playing career taking place outside of the Premier League, most notably League One and League Two.

Retired since 2022, the now 41-year-old Akinfenwa has only played in charity matches recently and BetUK felt this made him of “low risk” appeal to under-18s as per the B/CAP guidance.

The firm added that a low percentage of the ex-footballer’s social media following are under 18; 116,200, or 8%, on Instagram and 41,080, 13%, on Snapchat – age demographics were not available for Facebook, Tik Tok and X, formerly known as Twitter.

However, the ASA upheld its ruling on the ground that Akinfenwa was well known to football fans due to his “impressive physical strength” making him one of the strongest players on the popular video game series FIFA.

Addressing his social media, the advertising regulator noted that Akinfenwa had “well-known football related personalities” on his YouTube channel and while the percentages of under-18 followers on his other social media platforms were low, he had at least 157,000 followers and possibly more due to other platforms being unable to provide the necessary data.

BCAP guidance stated: “… a generally high social media following that attracts a significant absolute number of under-18 followers, as determined through quantitative or qualitative analysis, is likely to be considered an indicator of ‘strong’ appeal”.

Therefore, the ASA concluded that Akinfenwa’s playing career and media profile in isolation made him a “moderate risk” and his social media following, on top of his career and profile, placed him in the “high risk” category.

The ASA ruled that BetUK’s ad must not appear again in its current form and that LeoVegas must not to include a “person or character who had strong appeal to those under 18 years of age in their advertising in future”.

“We concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code,” the watchdog wrote.

In a separate ruling published today, a TV ad for Jumpman Gaming brand Lucky Cow Bingo, had been examined by the ASA for its appeal to under-18s.

Seen on 14 December 2023, the ad featured a cow standing on its hind legs and dancing to music with the voiceover saying: “Someone’s happy. Get that lucky cow feeling with luckycowbingo.com. The home of brilliant bingo, super slots and beautiful bonuses like this … Get that lucky cow feeling with up to 500 free spins at luckycowbingo.com.”

There was also text on-screen that said: “luckycowbingo.com/bingo”.

Jumpman Gaming argued the cow was not dancing to music that would appeal to children. Meanwhile pre-clearance ad service Clearcast said the animal’s animation was photo-realistic, not cute or cartoon-like.

Clearcast added that the music had no jingles or lyrics that would appeal to under-18s.

The ASA acknowledged that while the dancing cow could appeal to some children, the overall presentation of the animal alongside the generic music made it unlikely to have “strong appeal to under-18s”.

The ASA did not uphold this ruling.