Gambling
Gambling ads featuring Lewis Hamilton and Chelsea banned for appealing to children

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have banned advertisements for gambling firms featuring Formula 1 star Sir Lewis Hamilton, and the logo of Chelsea football club because they would appeal to children.
The adverts from betting firms Kwiff and Betway, which ran on YouTube and Twitter/X, were both banned after complaints raised about their influence over those under 18.
An influential figure
Kwiff’s advert, which took the form of a post on the social media platform X, included an image of Lewis Hamilton and a quote about his “huge weekend” at the British Grand Prix.
The post also contained a link to Kwiff’s website with commentary on the race. Kwiff argued that the post pointed to the company blog which contained ‘editorial commentary’ separate from their gambling site.
Kwiff also argued that their research suggested Lewis Hamilton appealed to an older audience, rather than children. The ASA, in their ruling, commented that “we considered Sir Lewis Hamilton was a notable star within the sport, with a significant public profile and social media following.” They highlighted that Hamilton had 150,000 followers on Instagram who were under 18 and was a storyteller on CBeebies.
“We considered that Kwiff would have been aware of the possibility that Sir Lewis Hamilton would have strong appeal to under-18s,” the ASA ruled. Kwiff has since reviewed its social media content.
An influential platform
Betway, who are a prominent sponsor of sporting teams, ran their advert on YouTube, which featured sports fans wearing clothing depicting the badge of Chelsea Football Club.
Betway is the club’s official betting partner in Europe and so has the right to use Chelsea’s logo in their advertising. Betway also argued that YouTube have their own policies and safeguards to prevent under-18s from viewing inappropriate content.
However, ASA ruled that “it was likely that there was at least a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up to YouTube.” As such, ASA stated that YouTube was an unsuitable platform for the betting company’s advertisement.
Share