Betway Advert Featuring Declan Rice Banned by ASA

The Advertising Standards Agency has banned the Betway advert featuring the young England footballer, Declan Rice. The advert was banned as it was found to be in breach of the CAP Code, Edition 12, rule 16.3.14 Gambling.

As the current advertising regulations state, betting operators are not allowed to feature persons under 25, which have a significant role in the adverts. The said ment was initially shown on YouTube in October 2019. It featured West Ham’s captain Mark Noble carrying out a fake clamping of Rice’s Range Rover while feeding lines to an actor posing as a traffic warden.

It also featured the footballers wearing West Ham shirts with the Betway logo, ending with the logo and a message from GambleAware.

Ruling

The ruling of ASA is as follows: “We noted that the YouTube video appeared on the Betway YouTube channel and featured sportsmen who consumers would be able to place bets on in the future and wearing football shirts with a prominent Betway logo.

“The ad ended with the brand name “Betway” followed by the claim “bet the responsible way. 18+ begambleaware.org”. We, therefore, considered that the video was promoting the Betway brand.

“The ad also featured the claim “HEED YOUR HUNCH”, which we considered encouraged consumers to think about placing a bet. For those reasons, we considered the YouTube video was directly connected with the supply of Betway’s services and was therefore within the remit of the CAP Code.

“The YouTube video featured Declan Rice for the duration of the five-minute video, and we accordingly considered that he had played a significant role in the video. We also understood that Declan Rice was 20 years old. Because Declan Rice was under the age of 25, and played a significant role in the ad, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.”

Betway, who recently went live in Africa, went on to reply that the advert was posted as editorial content and that they did not consider a YouTube video to be an ad or to contain promotional content. They also said that Declan Rice was not featured in the video in a sporting context and that the advert did not refer to a specific market, odds or promotions.

About the Provider

Betway is a leading provider of top-notch entertainment across sports betting, casino, bingo, esports, and poker. The company was founded in 2006 and it has remained at the forefront of the online gaming industry ever since, utilizing the very latest technologies to provide innovative and interactive gaming experiences, conducted in a safe and secure environment.

Source:

“ASA bans Betway ad featuring 20 year-old Premier League footballer”, gamingintelligence.com, January 8, 2020.