The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint made about the placement of a Hollywood Bets advertisement on an EA Sports FC (EAFC) stats website.
The banner ad appeared on www.-theVFL.com, a virtual football league and EAFC e-sport statistics website. The complainant, who was aged under 18, stated that they saw the ad despite registering their date of birth when completing their profile on the website.
Under ASA rules, operators must ensure that marketing communications are not directed at those aged younger than 18 through the selection of media or context in which they appear.
The ad in question featured the Hollywood Bets logo and text that stated, “up to £30 back as free bets + 20 free spins” and contained a “sign here” button.
In response, Hollywood Bets said that the ad was placed on the website by their affiliate partner Playhill Ltd, which trades as Clever Advertising.
Clever Advertising argued that the-VFL.com hosts the Virtual Football League, where players participate in organised competitive matches. As such, this closely mirrors real-world football and positions the platform closer to traditional sports, where consumers are more familiar with seeing gambling ads.
In addition, they said VFL’s gameplay format, which utilises EAFC’s Pro Clubs and requires coordination, scheduling and commitment between players, was more typical of older and more mature players, often aged over-18.
Clever, therefore, believed that the ad had been appropriately placed, citing the fact that, based on the latest demographics for EAFC, children accounted for less than 25% of players.
They added that the ad in question was approved for display on the VFL homepage, meaning that it should have been visible to visitors before they logged in, but not after.
In response, VFL said they did not select the ads that appeared on their website, and once made aware of the complaint, they contacted their partners to have the ad removed.
Following their investigation, the ASA concluded the ad breached CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3 and 16.3.13.
The ruling stated: “We acknowledge that Clever Advertising maintained that the ad was approved from display prior to user log in, but understood the complainant was logged in when the ad was served to them.
“Because the ad was served to a user of the website who was known to be under 18 by their registered login details, we considered that the ad was directed at those below the age of 18 through the selection of the media in which it appeared and therefore breached the Code.”
Following the decision, the ad must not be used again without further targeting to minimise the likelihood of under-18s being exposed to it, and Hollywood Bets was warned that future ads must be appropriately targeted.
