Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, which trades as bet365, has managed to dodge further action from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after the advertising regulatory body challenged a promoted tweet for the company.
The controversial advert featured boxer Chris Eubank Jr. The country’s advertising watchdog challenged whether the aforementioned advert on Twitter, seen in January 2023, included an individual who was likely to be quite popular among underage individuals, and therefore violated the CAP Code.
The UK gambling operator responded to the claims, saying that their social media channels only targeted users who were at least 18 years old. Hillside (UK Sports) ENC further noted that no matter that the platform in question where the promoted tweet was seen did not have strict age verification methods in place, the marketing campaigns of bet365 only targeted customers aged at least 25 and had relative interests to the services offered by the British gambling giant.
Apart from that, the company highlighted the fact that all social media channels offered exclusion lists, so customers at risk of gambling-related harm were unable to access targeted content.
The popular gambling company noted that it had developed robust processes for reviewing content and customers across its marketing channels in the UK, with the reviews being carried out by an independent compliance team under the rules and guidelines of the Advertising Standards Authority. As part of the checks, customers or content deemed to be of high risk would not be used in bet365’s marketing communications.
As far as the controversial advert is concerned, the gambling operator noted that the promoted tweet was only displayed to users at the age of 25 or older, and to individuals who had previously showed interest in relevant content.
No CAP Code Violations Found during the Advertising Stardards Authority Investigation
Under the existing CAP Code rules, gambling operators must make sure that their marketing communications are not likely to be of strong appeal to underage individuals, especially by being associated with youth culture. That is exactly why they must not feature a person or character who is likely to be followed by children or has strong appeal to individuals under the age of 18. Gambling companies are also required to provide evidence that they had identified what such celebrities or characters were generally associated with outside the context of an advert and make sure they are not found particularly appealing by underage individuals.
The Hillside (UK Sports) ENC’s advert was investigated under the country’s CAP Code, and more specifically under gambling content-related rules 16.1, 16.3, and 16.3.12.
As part of the investigation, the Advertising Standards Authority noted that athletes who compete in sports that are clearly oriented to adults were notable stars with significant presence on social media, which basically means they are usually well-known to children and young people. Partnering with such individuals, however, is considered to be of moderate risk in terms of how likely they were to be appealing to individuals under the age of 18.
Considering the fact that boxing is an adult-oriented sport that is hardly expected to be of strong appeal to children, the partnership of Chris Eubank Jr. was also of moderate risk to under-18s.
The boxer currently has a large following on social media, with his followers totalling 1.7 million. Most of them were split across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with fewer than 11,000 followers registered and under-18s – a number that did not suggest a strong appeal to children. As a result of the investigation, the ASA ruled that Chris Eubank Jr.’s appearance in the sponsored tweet was unlikely to have raised his level of appeal to underage individuals. Given all factors, the regulator concluded that the advert did not breach any of the CAP Code rules.
- Author
Olivia Cole
