The UK Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) recent ruling against gambling brand Ladbrokes and its operator LC International Ltd over a marketing tweet signals the regulator’s stringent approach in enforcing its new guidance to protect under 18s in the UK from gambling adverts.

Four promoted tweets for Ladbrokes, seen in January and February 2023: The first tweet stated, “Which four players will qualify for the Australian Open 2023 Men’s Singles semi-finals? [thinking emoji]. Name the players you expect to make the cut. [tennis ball emoji] #AusOpen #AO2023”. The tweet was accompanied by an image of four tennis players and a list of four matches. The name and a picture of Novak Djo.

The ASA challenged whether the ads included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to those under 18 years of age, and therefore breached the code.

LC International Ltd t/a Ladbrokes said that the four tweets were intended to be editorial content designed to engage with their audience. Two of the tweets celebrated Novak Djokovic’s impressive run of form while the other two tweets were polls which asked users to vote on tennis-related questions during the Australian Open.

Ladbrokes acknowledged that the tweets referenced and included imagery of prominent players, but stated that they reviewed each player’s media profile, follower demographic, and sponsorship partnerships to assess whether the players would be likely to strongly appeal to under 18s.

The ASA acknowledged that the data provided by Ladbrokes showed that the vast majority of the followers each player had on social media were over 18 and that their commercial partnerships were with adult focused brands. However, that did not override our assessment that the players featured in the ads were likely to be of strong appeal to under 18s based on the factors above. We considered that it would have been acceptable for the ads to appear in a medium where those under 18, for all intents and purposes, could be entirely excluded from the audience.