{The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered Ladbrokes to remove a tweet after the bookmaker was found to have violated Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) rules.|After Ladbrokes was found to be in violation of Committee on Advertising Practice rules (CAP), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has ordered Ladbrokes’ removal from Twitter.|Ladbrokes has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority to delete a tweet following a violation by Ladbrokes of Committee on Advertising Practices (CAP) rules.}
{In October 2022, the Entain sports betting brand published a tweet featuring a reel of Premier League footballers Philippe Coutinho, Jesse Lingard and Kalidou Koulibaly.|Entain, a sports betting company, published a tweet in October 2022 that featured a reel featuring Premier League footballers Philippe Coutinho and Jesse Lingard.|Entain’s sports betting brand posted a tweet on October 20, 2022 featuring a reel showing Premier League players Philippe Coutinho (Jesse Lingard) and Kalidou Kulibaly.}
{The prominent footballers were pictured alongside text reading “Can these big summer signings make the question marks over their performances go away?’, against a backdrop of question marks.|A selection of prominent footballers was pictured with text that read “Can these major summer signings make question marks about their performances disappear?”, set against a background of question marks.|These prominent footballers were shown alongside text saying “Can these huge summer signings help make doubts over their performance go away?”.}
{After viewing the tweet, the ASA challenged whether the advert included individuals ‘who were likely to have a strong appeal to those under-18 years of age’, in breach of the CAP code.|The ASA challenged the inclusion of individuals in the advertisement after viewing it, in violation of the CAP code.|The ASA checked the tweet and challenged the inclusion in it of people “who are likely to appeal to persons under 18 years old”, which is in contravention of the CAP Code.}
{Back in April, the CAP updated its standards around betting advertising, enforcing that people who may appeal to under-18s – such as famous sports stars – cannot be featured in operator marketing.|In April the CAP revised its rules regarding betting advertising. It stated that anyone who might appeal to minors, such as sports celebrities, cannot feature in marketing for an operator.|The CAP had updated its standards for betting advertising in April. This meant that operators could not market to people under 18 – like famous athletes – and prohibited them from using their names in such marketing.} {The new rules came into effect on 1 October, that same month.|On the same date, the new rules went into effect.|These new rules were in effect from 1 October.}
{In its response to the ASA’s challenge, Ladbrokes explained that the ad had been developed in-house as brand engagement material, and did not feature promotional material, calls to action or links to its betting site.|Ladbrokes responded to the ASA challenge by explaining that its ad was created in-house to engage customers and does not contain calls to action.|Ladbrokes replied to the ASA’s challenge. It explained that the ad was branded engagement material and had not featured promotional materials or calls to actions.}
{The firm also said that its twitter feed and the tweets on it could not be accessed by users who are not verified as being over 18 by the platform itself, and that its tweets were targeted to only over-25s, having recognised that Twitter allows users to self-verify their age.|Additionally, the firm stated that users over the age of 18 cannot access its Twitter feed or tweets. It also claimed that the company’s tweets are only for over-25s. This is because Twitter allows people to verify their age.|Also, it stated that Twitter users cannot access the twitter feed or the tweets therein. The company also indicated that these tweets could only be accessed by over-25s.}
{Lastly, Ladbrokes provided data from Twitter showing that the ad had only reached the target audience of 25 years and over, with 0% out of a total of 50,666 impressions being under 20 years old.| Ladbrokes also provided Twitter data showing that only 25-year-olds were reached by the advertisement. Likewise, 0% of the total 50,666 impressions was under 20.|Ladbrokes shared data from Twitter that showed the ad only reached people aged 25 and older, with less than 1% of all 50,666 impressions falling under the age of 20.}
{The ASA, however, has upheld its challenge, ordering Ladbrokes to remove and not re-use the ad again ‘in its current form’, adding that the bookmaker should not include anyone with ‘strong appeal to those under 18 years of age’ again.|However, the ASA has refused to give up on its challenge and ordered Ladbrokes not to re-use its ad ‘in it’s current form’. It also stated that any bookmaker with’strong appeal for those younger than 18 years’ should be removed.|Ladbrokes was ordered by the ASA to take down the ad and to not republish it in its current format. The ASA also said that anyone who appeals to children under the age of 18 must be excluded from the advertisement.}
{A statement from the authority explained: “The ASA noted that Premier League footballers were considered high risk within the CAP guidance “Gambling and lotteries: Protecting under-18s” in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s.|The authority released the following statement: “The ASA observed that Premier League players were high-risk within the CAP guidance, “Gambling and lotteries : Protecting Under-18s”, in terms of their likely appeal to the under-18s.|According to the authority, a statement was made explaining that Premier League soccer players had been deemed high-risk under the CAP guidance “Gambling & lotteries: Protection of under-18s”. This refers to their potential appeal to young people.}
{“Football was an activity in which a very significant proportion of under-18s participated directly on a frequent basis, and had a general interest in through following professional teams and players across a variety of media.|”Football was a sport in which an important proportion of the under-18s took part on a regular basis and showed a great interest through watching professional players and teams across many media.|”Football is an activity that a significant number of children under 18 participated in on a daily basis. They also had an interest in following the professional teams of players in a range of media.}
{“There was also a highly developed infrastructure around organised participation and the sport had an exceptionally high media profile including popular, dedicated media for under-18s.|”There was also an extremely developed infrastructure for organised participation. The sport enjoyed a high media profile, including dedicated media outlets for children under 18.|”The sport also had a well-developed infrastructure, which included dedicated media and popular media for the under-18s.} {Those who played at an elite level were likely to appeal strongly to children.”|Children .” were more likely to be attracted to elite players.|The elite athletes were most likely to attract children .”}
{Due to Coutinho, Lingard and Koulibaly all being prominent Premier League footballers, as well as previously or currently playing at international level, the ASA judged that they would be well recognised by younger audiences.|The ASA deemed that Coutinho and Lingard, along with Koulibaly being well-respected Premier League players, would make them well-known to younger viewers.|Because Coutinho Lingard and Koulibaly are all well-respected Premier League football players as well as having played at international levels previously, or currently, the ASA deemed them to be easily recognized by younger people.}
{Despite Ladborkes’ efforts to limit exposure of the ad to over-25s, the ASA upheld that ‘for all intents and purposes’, the ad could not be entirely excluded from a younger audience, which could not be guaranteed without robust age-verification.|Despite Ladborkes efforts to restrict exposure to the ad only to people over 25, the ASA affirmed that the ad couldn’t be completely excluded from a younger audience. This could not have been guaranteed without strong age verification|Despite Ladborkes’ efforts to keep the ad from reaching over-25s only, the ASA affirmed the ASA’s decision that the ad cannot be excluded completely from a younger audience. However, this could not happen without age-verification.}
{The ASA explained: “Because Twitter was a media environment where users self-verified on customer sign-up, and did not use robust age-verification, we considered that Ladbrokes had not excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for ads the content of which was likely to appeal strongly to under-18s.”|According to the ASA, “Because Twitter is a medium where customers self-verify on sign up and do not require robust age verification, we thought that Ladbrokes did not exclude under-18s as it had the most accurate audience for ads which were likely to appeal strongly under-18s.”|The ASA said: “Because Twitter users self-verified their customer accounts and didn’t use strong age-verification methods, we believed that Ladbrokes hadn’t excluded anyone under 18 from its audience with the highest accuracy required for ads whose content was likely to appeal strongly, especially to those under-18s.”}
