Underage Targeting Leads to Ad Ban for Hollywoodbets

The South African betting company distributed a digital ad on The-VFL.com, which was displayed to a user under the age of 18. This age-inappropriate ad placement resulted in the banning of this promotion by the ASA, which clearly warned the operator and its affiliate partners of their breach.

The site the advert appeared on is a dedicated hub on esports statistics and virtual football leagues based on the EAFC video game series (originally FIFA). Although no overtly inappropriate content was being advertised, it was explicitly promoting a welcome bonus of “UP TO £30 BACK AS FREE BETS + 20 FREE SPINS”. This pop-up was made available to a 16-year-old, who was logged in under their correct date of birth.

This enough was alone to trigger an official complaint. After a thorough investigation, the ASA deemed Hollywoodbets to have improperly targeted its advert, with a lack of care to ensure this on behalf of their affiliate, Clever Advertising. Due to the fact that the advert reached an under-18 user, it was considered by the ASA to be a breach of the CAP Code, strictly prohibiting gambling ads from being directed at minors in any context.

The advertising company responsible for serving the ad, Clever Advertising, defended its case by saying that The-VFL.com specifically catered to adult-like, mature audiences. The claim was made that the website essentially mimicked the tonal writings of professional sports leagues, along with the overall layout of the site, suggesting that appealing to older users is part and parcel of their content.

The affiliate company also made the case for the team-based collaborative element behind the structure of the site, making the implication that this level of planning and commitment required from users was skewed towards adults.

The ASA was ultimately unswayed by these remarks. The ruling made it apparently clear that since the user’s age was known via on-site login credentials, the ad should never have had the jurisdiction to appear in the first place. The authority made it clear that platforms, including affiliates, all have a duty to act on known user data in order to prevent exposure to gambling content to underage audiences.

This resulted in the ASA instructing Hollywoodbets to stop running ads similar to this again, unless there is a guarantee put in place that more robust age-targeting safeguarding procedures will be followed. The incident still serves as a reminder of how seriously the ASA takes its role in safeguarding minors from gambling exposure.

For players from the UK, this incident is proof that watchdogs are keeping a keen eye on how gambling operators and their affiliates market themselves, particularly online.

When it comes to responsible gambling and the regulations that are put in place to protect this in a fast-moving, digital landscape, there’s no margin for error. This tale is cautionary, and hopefully one that is being learned from, and drawn on in future best practices.