The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two complaints made against Ladbrokes in relation to the Entain-owned brand’s ads for its ‘Ladbucks’ rewards programme.
The complaints stem from a TV and video on-demand ad, both of which were aired in December 2024, which advertised the loyalty scheme.
The complaint claimed the adverts were of strong appeal to children under the age of 18 and breached both the CAP Code and BCAP Code.
The ads promoted Ladbucks – tokens which players taking part of certain promotions can collect – with a voiceover stating: “This is a Ladbuck, the new way to get rewarded at Ladbrokes, and these are some of the 100 million Ladbucks that will be dropping weekly.
“Collect them on our free-to-play games and choose rewards like free spins, free bets and more. Over 100 million Ladbucks dropping every single week.
“Plus, you can even use them to play your favourite games for free in our Ladbucks arcade. Like Fishin’ Frenzy and Goldstrike. Start collecting at Ladbrokes.com.”
The ads also featured images of coins, representing the Ladbucks, with accompanying text stating: “100m Ladbucks, free spins and free bets”, all in capital letters.
Ladbucks can be redeemed in the Ladbucks store or arcade by players who are verified as over 18 and logged into their account.
The tokens have no market value with an exchange rate and cannot be used across all Ladbrokes products.
Explaining how the Ladbucks name was chosen, the operator explained it was a play on the word Ladbrokes and through the suffix of ‘bucks’.
Ladbrokes said the colloquial nature of the term ‘buck’ to mean dollars was widely used in popular culture and had no origins among young people, meaning it would not be appealing to under-18s
The bookmaker added that the ads had targeting restrictions that reduced the likelihood of them being seen by young people.
Ladbrokes also clarified the word ‘buck’ was not associated with coins and currencies from video games, such as Fortnite’s ‘V-bucks’ and Roblox’s ‘Robux’, as both are in-game currencies that can be bought with real money and used to purchase in-game items.
Having reviewed its reward programme, Ladbrokes said it believed there was no risk with Ladbucks being associated with either video game and the only similarities was that all names use the suffix ‘bucks’.
Furthermore, the operator argued that other industries use reward schemes for its players and that it was not unique to video games for children and young people.
On the word ‘lad’, the Ladbrokes insisted it did not refer to a boy or young male and that its brand has never used it in that context, pointing out that this was not an issue raised in either of the two complaints.
Clearcast, the ad clearance and approval body, said it did not believe Ladbucks to be of strong appeal to children and that the tokens were not similar to video game currencies
Despite this, the ASA upheld both complaints on the grounds it had assessed whether games, such as Roblox, that used coins as tokens were popular with children and then extrapolated that research to determine whether those type of coins had any parallels with Ladbucks.
The ASA used data from Ofcom’s 2024 report to determine that a significant amount of under-18s would not only be familiar with Fortnite and Roblox but that the games’ features would be strongly associated with youth culture.
When comparing the similarities between the names Ladbucks, Robux and V-bucks, the ASA said it did not consider the word ‘bucks’, in isolation, to be of particularly strong appeal to minors.
However, the trade body highlighted that because V-bucks is short for Vindertech buck, a fictional company in the world of Fortnite, and Ladbucks used the word ‘lad’ from Ladbrokes, the portmanteau of the names meant it was comparable to the video game coins and that under-18s would likely register the similarity
The ASA said: “In addition, while we accepted the use of the prefix ‘lad’ was for its link to the brand, and we did not consider the brand’s name itself to be of appeal to children, we also considered that ‘lad’ was a colloquial term for a boy or young man.
“In the context of the ad and its use alongside the word buck, the word lad would have also been recognised and of appeal to some under-18s.”
When assessing the image of the token, it was determined that both Ladbucks and V-bucks had similarities with a poker chip.
Robux were a different shape but were sometimes shown in its previous form of a poker chip with a ‘R’ and dollar sign in the middle.
The ASA added: “Although we acknowledged that Ladbrokes offered poker and casino games, we considered it was not the use of poker chip imagery in isolation but the use of the token’s imagery when used in conjunction with the term Ladbucks that was likely to have been recognisable and perceived by many under-18s as similar to those in-game currencies of online games that were of strong appeal to under-18s.”
Highlighting that Ladbucks could be used in the online Ladbrokes store in a similar way that V-bucks and Robux can, the association further deemed that this was of appeal to children as they would be familiar with the format.
Following the complaint being upheld, the ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in their current form.
EGR understands that since the ruling was issued, Ladbucks ads have been paused across all paid channels.
In response to the ASA’s decision, a Ladbrokes spokesperson told EGR that it was “disappointed” by the findings and that the operator was seeking an independent review.
The spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the ASA’s ruling on our ‘Ladbucks’ advertising campaign, and we are seeking an independent review of what we consider to be a flawed decision.
“For example, it is based on an inaccurate comparison with games such as Fortnite or Roblox and their in-game currencies. Entain works extremely carefully to ensure that its advertising does not target or appeal to under-18s.
“We maintain that this was a responsibly created and targeted campaign, pre-approved by Clearcast and only shown after the watershed.”
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Operator seeks an independent review of “flawed decision” after advertising watchdog says loyalty points strike similarities to online video game currencies
The post ASA rules Ladbrokes’ ‘Ladbucks’ adverts to be of strong appeal to under-18s first appeared on EGR Intel.