Betway and Kwiff rapped over gambling ads appealing to under-18s

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued warnings to Betway and Kwiff over advertisements it said breached regulations, as they were likely to have been of appeal to young people under the age of 18.

In the case of Super Group-owned Betway, a complainant took issue with a YouTube advert that appeared in May. This featured a football fan wearing clothing carrying the logo of Premier League football club Chelsea.

The complainant contended the appearance of the Chelsea logo could have been of appeal to under-18s. As such, the advert could have been seen as a breach of regulations.

In response, Betway said the advert referred to its rewards scheme, rather than directly to its gambling services. It also noted how official guidance allows gambling adverts to include content that “specifically identifies a subject of the gambling activity”. This, it said, includes sports team logos.

Betway also flagged how the advert did not feature any active football and focused on the actual stadium, with rewards club members having the opportunity to win a stadium tour of Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. It noted how everyone in the video was over the age of 18 and actual competition winners and not actors.

Further defence included that it was permitted to use Chelsea logos under its partnership with the club. In addition, it said the advert was targeted at logged-in YouTube users over the age of 25.

ASA brands Betway ad ‘irresponsible’

However, the ASA disagreed. It said that while guidance does allow for club logos to appear, this only applies to being featured in a standalone context, such as at the end of an advert. It said the fact logos appeared throughout breached this rule and would have appealed to under-18s.

The ASA also dismissed the argument that the ad targeted logged-in YouTube users aged over 25. It said YouTube was a media environment where users self-verify on sign-up and does not use robust age-verification methods. As such, it ruled Betway did not exclude under-18s from the audience.

With this, it flagged Ofcom research based on a 2025 survey that indicated 81% of 8-17-year-olds active on social media used YouTube. It also estimated 20% of this age group with their own profile had a registered user age of at least 18.

“Given that evidence, we considered it was likely that there was at least a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up to YouTube and were able to see and access content intended for those aged 18 or older, meaning they could view advertising content from gambling operators,” the ASA said.

“We concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the code.”

Kwiff criticised over Lewis Hamilton ad

Meanwhile, the ASA also ruled against Kwiff, a brand operated by Eaton Gate Gaming, over an advert featuring British Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton.

The ad appeared on X before the 2024 British Grand Prix and featured an image of Hamilton. It also contained a link to an article on Kwiff’s website about the race, as well as an 18+ symbol and GambleAware branding.

The complaint, from a researcher at the University of Bristol, noted the inclusion of Hamilton could appeal to under-18s.

In its lengthy defence, Kwiff made several remarks about the ad. It said that it believed it to be responsible and was published to drive traffic to a blog article, rather than to its gambling site. It also noted the article content was a piece of sports commentary and not about gambling.

Other defence factors included that none of its followers on X were younger than 18. It also said there was no “standardised approach” to age verification on social media and that it took “reasonable” steps to prevent younger people from seeing the ad.

In addition, it took the position that Hamilton would likely be of more appeal to older fans of F1. Kwiff said younger supporters would have more interest in younger drivers, as opposed to 40-year-old Hamilton.

X also issued a response, saying the post was organic and not a promoted or paid-for ad. It added that it has now put in place a multi-step age assurance methodology in line with the UK Online Safety Act. This was not the case when the post appeared last year.

ASA upholds irresponsible ruling

But the ASA disagreed with the operator. It flagged several stand-out issues with the ad and the defence put forward by Kwiff.

Key points included that the ad directly connected to Kwiff’s gambling site. It also dismissed the argument that Hamilton would not be of appeal to under-18s, given that he has won seven F1 World Drivers’ Championships. As such, his inclusion in the post was in breach of official guidance.

Other points were that X did not have in place robust age-verification methods at the time and that it relied on users self-verifying. As such, it said there was potential that some Kwiff followers may have been under 18 and seen the post.

“We accepted that X had an additional measure in place, whereby third parties could report accounts that they believed were under age,” it said. “While helpful, we considered that this measure was unlikely to effectively identify all accounts that had falsely claimed to be over 18.”

It concluded: “We acknowledged Sir Lewis Hamilton was primarily famous for his association with an adult-oriented sport but considered he was very well known to a general UK audience, including to children and young people.

“We considered, based on his public profile, commercial partnerships, media appearances and UK under-18 social media following, that he had strong appeal to under-18s. For those reasons, we concluded the ad was irresponsible and breached the code.”

SkyBet fails with Gary Neville ad appeal

In other news, the ASA rejected an appeal from SkyBet about a historical advert featuring ex-footballer and now-pundit Gary Neville.

In October 2023, the ASA ruled an ad featuring Neville breached regulations as it may have been of appeal to under-18s. The post on X featured an embedded video clip from The Overlap football podcast, with Neville discussing which team might win the Premier League. The SkyBet logo appeared occasionally throughout the video.

SkyBet defended the ad by saying Neville would not have appealed to under-18s, given that he retired from football some time ago. However, the ASA agreed with the complainant that Neville’s fame among the wider football community meant the ad may have appealed to young people.

SkyBet appealed the decision and while the ASA made “minor factual amendments” to the ruling, its decision was the same. It said the ad should not appear again in its current form.