UK gambling ads with Lewis Hamilton and Chelsea badge banned due to children influence
Gambling advertisements featuring Formula 1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton and the Chelsea football club logo have been banned in the UK due to concerns that they would affect children.
Ads run by two gambling firms, Kwiff and Betway, have been banned following investigations into complaints, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said on Wednesday.
Betway’s YouTube ad, seen in May, featured football fans wearing Chelsea badges, while Kwiff’s post on X in July promoted the British Grand Prix with a picture of Hamilton.
Both betting companies were warned not to include any characters that attract viewers under the age of 18.
The BBC has contacted two betting firms for comment. Separately, the BBC has also reached out to Hamilton’s team for comment.
in it Decision on KwiffThe ASA, run by Eaton Gate Gaming, said a researcher from the University of Bristol lodged the complaint over concerns that the firm’s post about X was likely to attract under-18s.
The ASA said Kwiff’s post included text highlighting Hamilton’s “huge weekend” at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the “18+” symbol and the BeGambleAware.org logo.
The post also included a link to an article about the race on Kwiff’s website.
The ASA wrote that Eaton Gate Gaming said its data showed Hamilton appealed to an older audience rather than those under 18.
Kwiff told the ASA the post was intended to drive traffic to the company’s blogs, which had “editorial commentary” on a separate website from the gambling platforms.
The ASA said it reviewed Kwiff’s social media accounts and removed any content featuring mainstream athletes.
“We considered Sir Lewis Hamilton to be a notable star in the sport with a significant public profile and social media following,” the ASA said in its decision. The statement was included.
The authority also noted that Hamilton’s 150,000 Instagram followers who are under 18 and live in the United Kingdom is also a sign of his appeal among young people. It was also stated that Hamilton appeared in the F1 24 video game for an age group of three and over, and that he was a storyteller in a program broadcast on the BBC’s CBeebies channel last year.
“We therefore thought Kwiff was aware of the possibility that Sir Lewis Hamilton would have a strong appeal to under-18s,” he added.
Separately, ASA also decided this Betway’s ad violated its rules.
According to the ASA, YouTube was an unsuitable platform for advertising because advertisers could not guarantee that their content would exclude viewers under the age of 18.
“It was likely that there were at least a significant number of children who did not use their actual date of birth when registering with YouTube,” the ASA said.
Betway told the ASA it had the right to use Chelsea’s logo as the club’s official European betting partner.
Betway said YouTube’s own advertising policies offer additional protections against those under 18 being exposed to age-restricted content, the ASA said.
Betway said banning the ad could set a “damaging precedent for gambling sponsorships in sports”, according to the report.
