Tennis Related Tweets
Entain-owned sports betting brand Ladbrokes has once again caught the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority for a series of tweets that the authority deems to have had a strong appeal to people under 18. This is the second time this year that Ladbrokes has been flagged because of its Twitter, now X, presence, with a similar incident occurring in February during the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury fight.
The company posted the tweets in question between January and February this year. The four tweets, all of which were promoted by the operator, featured Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The tweets all contained polls and were accompanied by text and images of the players.
The ASA used its Active Ad Monitoring system to identify the tweets. This AI-based system can identify ads that fall foul of the company’s advertising standards. It identified these tweets as featuring sports stars that have a strong influence over people under the age of 18.
The authority stated that this ruling forms part of a wider clampdown on ads that may have a stronger appeal to under-18s. All of this comes in the wake of the Gambling White Paper’s publication earlier this year.
Ladbrokes Response
Ladbrokes have responded to the claims made by the ASA. The company has stated that the tweets were editorial content that was supposed to drive engagement with its audience during the Australian Open.
It has acknowledged that the tweets feature prominent sports stars, but it also noted that it had reviewed each player’s media profile and found nothing to suggest they appealed to under 21s, with the data showing that they had hardly any followers under this bracket.
Twitter analytics highlighted that the ads received up to 35,050 impressions, with only one being in the 18-24 bracket. Ladbrokes believes that this was an anomaly and has requested further verification from the social media company.
High Standards
The ASA has used this case to further cement its tough stance on advertising involving sports stars. It says that any athlete with a significant national profile should be considered high risk under current guidance.
Some of these rulings could be considered vague, and Ladbrokes is not likely to be the only betting company that will find itself in a spot of bother regarding these. The ASA stated that the adverts would have been acceptable if they had been posted in a medium which was not easily accessible by those under 18. While Twitter has some age verification in place, this can be bypassed. The ASA said that marketing lists should be verified through payment data or credit checks.
