SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
XLXLMedia (XLM) has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for breaching the CAP Code but also failing to respond to its queries.
The London-based betting affiliate group and media publisher’s freebetsdotcom brand uploaded an Instagram post featuring Chelsea footballer Mason Mount, which was seen between 11-12 July 2023.
This was the subject of two complaints, which have subsequently been upheld by the ASA. The authority stated that XLM had breached two aspects of the CAP Code, the advertising code of conduct written up by the UK’s Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP).
The ASA’s main issue with the advert was that Mason Mount is under the age of 25, and under the CAP Code no individual under-25 is allowed to be featured in betting and gaming marketing.
Additionally, the authority explained: “The CAP Code also stated that marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.”
As Mason Mount was the ‘central focus’ of the ad, the ASA deemed that the 24 year old midfielder played a ‘significant role’ in the social media post, and the marketing action was therefore ‘irresponsible’.
Freebetsdotcom is not itself a betting operator, instead functioning as part of XLM’s wider affiliate network. The site collates betting offers from various other operators with links to these companies’ websites.
The ASA elaborated: “Although we acknowledged that freebetsdotcom’s service was not itself gambling, using it would place consumers in a position where they would be interacting with gambling services.
“We therefore considered it would be irresponsible to feature someone who was aged under 25 playing a significant role in their ads.”
In its concluding statement, the ASA added: “Because the ad was for a service that was intended to facilitate gambling and featured someone who was aged under 25 playing a significant role, we concluded that it was irresponsible.”
XLM has been informed not to publish the ad again and to refrain using under-25 year old individuals in marketing. The ASA also stated that it was “concerned by XLMedia plc’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code”.
“We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to enquiries and told them to do so in future,” the authority noted.
Interestingly the ASA’s ruling focused heavily on Mount’s age and not the fact that he is a professional footballer playing for a high-profile team in the UK’s most visible league, the top-flight Premier League.
In previous rulings, the ASA’s focus has been on the aspects of the CAP Code revolving around the use of individuals in marketing who are deemed ‘high risk’ in that they have a strong appeal to young people.
For example, bet365 was told to remove a social media post featuring an image of Arsenal player Granit Xhaka and BetVictor was told to do the same for a post featuring several FC Barcelona players.
