Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) sanctions are nothing new for UK gambling operators. But the triple whammy of rulings handed down in October to Sky Bet, kwiff and Betway – all of them found to have breached the ‘strong appeal’ to under-18s rules – felt like a significant escalation by the ad regulator.
The announcement of the three sanctions, all on 22 October, came just a week after the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) – the body behind the advertising code that the ASA upholds – issued updated guidance for gambling operators. One key clarification was the suggestion that a total of at least 100,000 social media followers is indicative of ‘strong appeal’.
This rule of thumb was the key factor in Sky Bet being sanctioned by the ASA for including its logo on an X post back in February 2023, featuring a clip of footballer-turned-broadcaster Gary Neville talking on The Overlap football podcast. ASA guidance specifically states that a “long-retired footballer now known for punditry/commentary” would be in the ‘low-risk’ category, yet the sheer volume of Neville’s social media following bumped him up to being of ‘moderate risk’ of appealing to under-18s, despite his lengthy retired status, the UK regulator said.
Defies common sense
In response to the ASA’s confirmation of its decision, originally made in October 2023, the brand’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, claimed the ruling “defies precedent as well as common sense”.
“Not one person complained about this tweet, either to us or to the ASA,” a company spokesperson said. “Instead, the ASA lodged a complaint with itself and upheld its own complaint.”
Jessica Wilson, senior associate at law firm Harris Hagan, says the inherent subjectiveness of ‘strong appeal’ makes it difficult for operators to interpret the updated guidance. “It certainly seems that acting in good faith and having good intent is not enough and is not seen as a defence,” she says. “But I suspect we will soon have a steady stream of precedents to help us interpret what is expected of operators.”
If the ASA is not complaining to itself, it’s receiving objections from those many perceive as ‘anti-gambling’. A researcher from the University of Bristol – home to the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research – was named as the complainant against kwiff.
For Kirsty Caldwell, CEO of Betsmart Consulting, this represents an unwelcome new direction for ad regulation in the sector. “The fact that academics are raising complaints in this regard raises key issues around the independence of their work and how funding is being used,” she says. “But clearly, the ASA is happy to align itself with this approach or it wouldn’t be publishing a description of the complainant. On this basis, I feel, sadly, like this is here to stay.”
The offending X post by kwiff, seen in July 2024, contained an image of Formula 1 icon Lewis Hamilton and linked to the operator’s blog. Kwiff argued that its post featuring Hamilton was an “editorial commentary on a sporting event”, which had no inducement or call-to-action to prompt people to gamble.
This held no sway with the ASA, which noted the ad linked through to an article that had odds on a Formula 1 race as well as links to the main gambling site and was therefore “directly connected with the supply of betting services”. It shows the divide between editorial and promotional content is more blurred than previously, according to Wilson. She points to the CAP extending the UK advertising code to cover non-paid-for social media marketing by gambling operators.
“The changes to the CAP Code mean that the ASA’s net has widened and the kwiff case has shown that content being deemed as purely ‘editorial’ is no longer a safe harbour for operators,” Wilson explains. If editorial content used to be a safe harbour for operators, paying huge sums to become an official partner of a football club was seen as refuge when it came to using assets in marketing campaigns.
But the Betway ruling could “set a damaging precedent for gambling sponsorships in sport”, according to the Super Group-owned operator. The sanction followed a complaint that a Betway pre-roll ad, shown this May on YouTube, featured the Chelsea logo too prominently, with the club’s badge visible on clothing worn by fans, and therefore was of strong appeal to under-18s.
Betway pointed out it had the contractual right to use the club’s logo in its capacity as Chelsea’s official European betting partner, and that it tried to minimise the ad’s connection with football by omitting any shots of actual football being played. However, the ASA stated: “We considered that the depiction of the team logo in an ad that showed a stadium experience for fans was likely to strongly appeal to children and young people who supported Chelsea FC or followed football more widely.”
Elsewhere in its ruling, the watchdog said Betway had not excluded under-18s from the audience “with the highest level of accuracy required for gambling ads” despite only targeting over-25s. The ASA cited a survey of 1,793 social media users aged 8-17 that indicated around 20% had falsely claimed to be over 18 when signing up to YouTube.
The case highlights the “very high bar”, says Tom Whitton, managing associate at law firm Mishcon de Reya, that the ASA sets for operators to ensure ads are served only to age-appropriate audiences. “Targeting over-25s alone is deemed as insufficient by the ASA, despite operators having little control over users who falsely self-verify their age as over 18,” he explains. “This approach is particularly onerous given that Betway complied with the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling’s ‘Code for Socially Responsible Advertising’ by targeting its ad at logged-in YouTube users over 25 using the platform’s ‘25+’ age filter.”
An unrealistic compliance environment
While many online platforms are beginning to implement more robust age-assurance processes, operators cannot assume these updates will immediately satisfy requirements from the ASA, Whitton warns. “In our view, this unfairly creates an unrealistic compliance environment where operators are responsible for technological limitations beyond their control,” he says.
Caldwell also describes this part of the Betway ruling as “very unfair” but stresses operators are always accountable for any third-party issues that impact their customers. “For example, if verification software is not working properly or if an affiliate offers non-compliant bonuses,” she notes. “So, I guess this approach, as a concept, isn’t new.”
Wilson remains hopeful that the heightened focus on the definition of ‘strong appeal’ is a “temporary correction phase” following the introduction of new guidance, though Whitton fears it represents a “sustained tightening of the regulatory framework”.
He says: “The ASA’s approach has become more interventionist in recent years, highlighted by the strengthening of standards from the ‘particular appeal’ test to the ‘strong appeal’ approach, as well as its use of an ‘Active Ad Monitoring system’ and AI as proactive enforcement tools to identify ads for review. This tightening of the rules, along with a systematic, technology-driven approach, indicates sustained regulatory intensification beyond traditional complaint-based enforcement.”
With the regulatory climate around traditional social media marketing strategies becoming more difficult, operators are adopting new approaches, such as signing direct deals with the bigger platforms. LiveScore Group, which has had little or no social presence for its LiveScore Bet brand in the UK since it launched back in 2019, signed what it labelled a “game-changing” partnership with X in September.
The betting elements of the deal include allowing LiveScore users to share betslips and predictions directly into X, the development of “smarter trading models” which will react to conversations on the social platform, as well as X delivering AI-driven predictive insights across LiveScore Bet.
Perfect fit
Others, such as Paddy Power, have been leaning into the rapid growth of short-form video platform TikTok, historically a channel gambling operators have avoided due to strict compliance requirements and an audience that is predominantly young, with a third (32.8%) of UK users in the 18-24 bracket, according to marketing agency Limelight Digital. The Flutter-owned operator, which has focused its social content offerings on Facebook, X and Instagram to date, made its first foray onto TikTok in August, ahead of the start of the 2025-26 football season, with a video featuring Coleen Rooney.
The expansion to TikTok was the “natural expansion” of Paddy Power’s social strategy, explains Jack Wilson, head of content and channels at the operator. “We have watched from afar how TikTok has grown and been keen to get involved,” he says. “We see ourselves as an entertainment brand that wants to make the audience laugh and be culturally relevant, and it’s a perfect fit for this.” To ensure compliance with TikTok rules over the promotion of gambling services, Paddy Power adopted a three-phase approach to posting content.
The first was “dipping the toe in” with CSR and safer gambling-related messaging, such as videos about Paddy Power’s Prostate Cancer UK campaign, where it donated money to the charity every time a 180 was scored at the 2025 World Darts Championship. The second phase was brand-led content, kicking off with the Rooney video in August and, once these were seen to be complying, paid social ads were rolled out around products such as ‘Super Sub’ rather than explicit odds-based promotions.
While Paddy Power has not yet created content exclusively for TikTok, audience behaviour on the platform has meant it’s needed to edit videos differently, explains the content chief.
“We’ve been looking at all the data and it’s clear the first two seconds are vital to grab people’s attention, so we’re making sure the gags and the familiar faces are in there straight away,” he says. “It’s one big thing we’ve taken from the rapid growth of Instagram; the need to optimise for the different platforms.”
While this has been Paddy Power’s official debut on TikTok, the reality is the brand’s videos have been regularly seen on the platform in unofficial forms. “Our content has been on TikTok for a good couple of years anyway, but rather than us getting the credit for it, users have been removing the watermarks and just stealing it,” Wilson adds. “It’s nice to be on there and to be able to track performance of the content.”
Of course, Paddy Power’s unique tone of voice and brand positioning means the bookmaker strives to “create content that entertains people, regardless of whether they are a bettor”, as Wilson describes it – yet most operators are under pressure to deliver conversions via their marketing spend. With seemingly an inherent risk in every social post, even if it’s editorial or via a brand partnership, will we see operators moving away from social media?
Not for Whitton, who believes social will remain a strategic priority for operators – in part because consumer behaviour in betting is often driven by influencers and short-form content.
He says: “What is changing significantly is how operators approach content creation and personality selection in light of the ASA’s stricter interpretation of the ‘strong appeal’ test. The legal risk won’t necessarily eliminate operators’ social media advertising practices outright, but they must now navigate much tighter compliance parameters.”
Wilson from Harris Hagan agrees that social is here to stay, but warns operator policies, procedures and controls must be more robust than ever. “Given the high thresholds set by the ASA, operators should work on the assumption that the content can be accessed by under-18s and then take steps to mitigate and eliminate that risk, documenting their due diligence, decision making and assessment of risk prior to publishing any content,” she concludes.
The post Socially awkward: UK operators weigh marketing risks amid tightened regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.
With new ASA guidance, tighter platform rules and ever stricter sanctions being handed out, UK gambling operators are facing an increasingly onerous regulatory climate when it comes to social media. So, is marketing through these channels worth the risk anymore?
The post Socially awkward: UK operators weigh marketing risks amid tightened regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.