The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned gambling advertisements featuring Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton and the Chelsea Football Club logo due to concerns they could appeal to children. The ruling affects campaigns by Kwiff and Betway, reflecting increasing scrutiny over gambling promotions targeting younger audiences. Kwiff’s ad, posted on X (formerly Twitter) in July, promoted the British Grand Prix with an image of Hamilton and text highlighting a “huge weekend” at Silverstone. Despite including an “18+” symbol and the BeGambleAware.org logo, ASA concluded the post was li

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned gambling advertisements featuring Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton and the Chelsea Football Club logo due to concerns they could appeal to children. The ruling affects campaigns by Kwiff and Betway, reflecting increasing scrutiny over gambling promotions targeting younger audiences. Kwiff’s ad, posted on X (formerly Twitter) in July, promoted the British Grand Prix with an image of Hamilton and text highlighting a “huge weekend” at Silverstone. Despite including an “18+” symbol and the BeGambleAware.org logo, ASA concluded the post was likely to attract under-18s. The ruling cited Hamilton’s 150,000 UK Instagram followers under 18, his appearance in the F1 24 video game rated for ages three and up, and his role as a storyteller on BBC’s CBeebies channel. Kwiff argued the post targeted an older audience and linked to an editorial blog rather than gambling directly, but ASA said the company should have anticipated Hamilton’s strong appeal to minors. Kwiff has since removed social media content featuring mainstream sports figures. Betway’s YouTube advert, seen in May, showed football fans wearing Chelsea merchandise. ASA ruled YouTube was unsuitable, as many under-18 users may not have provided real birth dates. While Betway claimed contractual rights as Chelsea’s European betting partner and cited YouTube safeguards, ASA found the ad breached codes designed to protect children.

Betway is a sponsor of sports teams, including West Ham United in previous seasons

Chelsea said it would work with partners to ensure compliance. ASA’s decision emphasizes the need to shield young audiences from gambling exposure, particularly when linked to popular sports figures. Both Kwiff and Betway have been warned not to feature imagery likely to appeal to under-18s in future campaigns. Source: BBC

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