Ladbucks Ads Cause British Betting Brand to Be Censured By ASA
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has ordered Ladbrokes to pull one of its broadcast adverts due to it being deemed appealing to minors.
A Ladbrokes advert featuring its Ladbucks will no longer be shown. © Glenn Carstens-Peters, Unsplash
Key Facts:
- Ladbucks is a type of in-game token used at the Ladbrokes site
- The company gives out free spins, free bets and other rewards via games using the Ladbucks tokens
- ASA said Ladbucks was promoted to be similar to video game currencies popular with children like V-Bucks and Robux.
Ladbrokes began to promote its Ladbucks in-game tokens in television advertisements that were first shown in December 2024.
The Ladbucks tokens can be earned by Ladbrokes customers and used to play free games to earn rewards such as bonus spins at the casino or free bets on the sportsbook.
But the ASA says the advert in question made Ladbucks look similar to video game currencies that are particularly popular with children like V-Bucks and Robux.
The ASA recently cleared Ladbrokes’ fellow betting site Fitzdares over a complaint around its links to the former England cricketer Stuart Broad.
In-Game Currencies
Many video games aimed at minors, such as Fortnite and Roblux, now use a form of in-game currency such as tokens, which the ASA deemed to be similar to Ladbucks.
The ASA said in its ruling – following an investigation after complaints were made – that Ladbucks only being able to be used at Ladbrokes was still similar to the above video games.
It said in a statement: “Therefore, we considered that was likely to further enhance its appeal to children through its resemblance to tokens used in gaming, with which they would likely be familiar.
“The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Ladbrokes not to include content in ads that was reflective of youth culture, or which had strong appeal to those under 18 years of age.”
This is not the first time Ladbrokes has been in trouble with the ASA over adverts deemed appealing to children.
In July 2023, the ASA told the gambling company that two promoted tweets featuring Premier League coaches David Moyes and Frank Lampard had broken its rules.
No Monetary Value
Ladbrokes argued in its defence that Ladbucks have no monetary value and can only be used as a form of payment for its free-to-play games.
The British betting brand also pointed out that Ladbucks are only accessible to verified users over 18, as children cannot create an account with the site.
Ladbrokes denied that its use of the Ladbucks term was designed to copy youth gaming culture and instead said it was merely a play on words relating to the brand’s name.
But the ASA said design elements in the TV adshowed that Ladbucks looked similar to video game currencies, noting that the token was round with stylised LB initials and shiny borders.
In its conclusion, the ASA stated that the Ladbucks name and the visual presentation of the tokens could be familiar to under-18s and likely to appeal to them, with the adverts thereby breaching BCAP Code rule 17.4.5 and CAP Code rules 16.1 and 16.3.12.
