The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has reprimanded Betway over a social media ad which featured F1 legend Lewis Hamilton.
The ad, posted on Facebook on 4 July 2025, featured a video of three F1 drivers watching a race, with their backs to camera.
Shot from behind, the middle driver wore a red uniform with the name ‘Hamilton’ across the back, with two Union Jack flags on either side of the drivers with a heading stating, “Who’s the best of the Brits?”.
The video was captioned: “It’s the British GP this weekend and there’s more than one local hero vying for top spot at Silverstone. Will Hamilton maintain his home track dominance? Or can the new gen achieve legendary status?”
The ad also featured the Betway logo throughout.
A complainant flagged the ad with the ASA, claiming it “included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s” and was therefore in violation of the CAP Code of Conduct for advertising.
While acknowledging Hamilton’s possible appeal to people under the age of 18, Betway alleged that its presentation of the Ferrari driver was designed to limit any appeal to children.
The operator argued the spot was only meant to represent Hamilton, and did not actually feature him, with the back-of-head images chosen specifically for that purpose.
Betway said Hamilton’s involvement in the ad was minimal and that his inclusion “contributed to a broader conversation about the British Grand Prix”.
The company also presented data which showed 16,349 people engaged with the Facebook ad, with 95% of the engagement coming from people in the 45-and-over age category.
However, the ASA upheld the complaint against the ad.
The advertising watchdog referenced Ofcom reports from 2022 and 2025 regarding the use of social media among under-18s, and concluded that it was likely that there was “at least a significant amount of children” who had signed up to social media platforms without using their real date of birth.
This meant there was a good chance that these children were able to see content intended for people 18 or older.
The ASA also mentioned Hamilton’s hall of fame bio on the official F1 website which describes him as a “role model for young people”, with a large social media following which could include people under 18.
An ASA statement read: “We considered Sir Lewis Hamilton was a notable star within the sport, with a significant public profile and social media following.
“As such, we considered that Sir Lewis Hamilton would have a strong appeal to under-18s, as both a moderate risk in terms of his status in an adult-oriented sport and his significant social media following.”
Betway also provided data regarding Hamilton’s social media following, which showed that 1.6 million of his 39.7 million Instagram followers were under the age of 18, while 92,400 of his 1.4 million Tik Tok subscribers were in the same age bracket.
The figures showed Hamilton had a total audience of 6.3 million people on Facebook and 8.5 million people on X, although Betway couldn’t provide the under-18 follower details for those accounts.
In response, the ASA noted: “Although Betway didn’t provide any UK specific follower numbers, CAP guidance in place at the time the ad appeared, indicated that a generally high social media following that attracted a significant absolute number of under-18 followers was likely to be considered an indicator of ‘strong’ appeal by the ASA.
“We consider that a high number of total followers, for example, in the millions, (in this instance), could indicate an increased risk of a large social media following of under 18s in the UK, even where that was a small proportion of the total.”
The ASA has ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form, and has warned Betway not to include a person or character who has strong appeal to people under the age of 18 in the future.
In response to the ASA’s ruling, a Betway spokesperson said: “As a responsible and fully licensed operator, we take great care to ensure that our promotional and advertising content adhere to the strict regulations that govern our industry. We remain committed to working closely with governing bodies to continually strengthen our compliance frameworks, policies, and procedures relating to this type of content.
“We have fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to take proactive steps to ensure that all recommendations and findings are implemented. Betway has absolutely no interest in marketing to children or young people. Our content undergoes a rigorous multi-stage review process before publication.
“This particular video intended for an adult audience was subject to the same thorough checks. It was believed to be fully compliant with the industry guidelines that existed at the time of publication. We would never knowingly produce or release any content that breaches those rules.”
This is the second ad featuring Hamilton in recent months to be flagged by the ASA, after it upheld a similar complaint against kwiff last month.
The regulator also upheld a complaint against Betway at the same time for an ad that featured the Chelsea FC badge too prominently throughout its duration.
The post ASA upholds complaint over Betway ad featuring Lewis Hamilton first appeared on EGR Intel.
Advertising watchdog rules that social media ad featuring the seven-time F1 world champion had “strong appeal to under-18s”
The post ASA upholds complaint over Betway ad featuring Lewis Hamilton first appeared on EGR Intel.