UK ASA Upholds BetVictor Ad Complaint

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority announced this week that they've upheld a complaint against gambling operator BetVictor, noting that an ad run by the company appealed to those under 18 years old.

The ad took the form of a Facebook spot and ran in January 2023. The post had a picture of FC Barcelona players Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets and contained the text: "Who is the most underrated player at the club you support?" The ad was made to try to get players to engage with the brand.

The ASA is the group who actually filed a complaint, instead of the public at large. The regulator claimed that the ad would appeal to those under 18, as athletes have a strong appeal to youngsters.

BetVictor said that they didn't consider the two athletes to be popular in the UK and that they wouldn't fall into what is considered to be a high-risk category. They also contended that neither player has participated against a Premier League team in year, and that there was no links to induce gambling, other than BetVictor's logo in the post.

Those arguments fell on deaf ears, with the ASA noting: "The guidance stated that non-UK 'star' footballers, particularly those at top European clubs, were considered high-risk in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s. We noted that the ad included Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets who were both current players at the European football club FC Barcelona and played for the Spanish national team.

"FC Barcelona was a professional, top-flight football club that competed in Spain's top league, and were known to be one of the most widely supported and successful clubs in the world. We considered that they would be classed as a 'top' European club under CAP guidance."

The ad was found to have breached the UK's CAP Code edition 12, rules 16.1, 16.3 and 16.3.12.

The ad can no longer air in its current form, although no fine or other corrective action was taken against the operator.

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