The ASA has reversed its decision on the Ladbucks ad ban saying that while tokens did have similarities to in-gaming currencies, it was not obvious enough.
Entain has welcomed the decision by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to reverse a ruling deeming a Ladbrokes ad to be of possibly strong appeal to those under the age of 18 and in breach of the BCAP and CAP Code.
Ladbucks, the operator’s free-to-play games currency, was featured in the Entain brand’s ad, which aired on TV and video-on-demand (VOD) on 17 and 23 December 2024, respectively.
A voiceover in the adstated: “This is a Ladbuck, the new way to get rewarded at Ladbrokes, and these are some of the 100 million Ladbucks that will be dropping weekly. Collect them on our free-to-play games and choose rewards like free spins, free bets and more.
“Over 100 million Ladbucks dropping every single week. Plus, you can even use them to play your favourite games for free in our Ladbucks arcade. Like Fishin Frenzy and Goldstrike. Start collecting at Ladbrokes.com.”
Imagery of coins with the initials ‘Lb’ was shown in the campaign, alongside text that said: “100m LADBUCKS,” “FREE BETS” and “FREE SPINS.”
Last June, the ASA upheld two complaints against Ladbrokes for the ad stating the Ladbucks name and appearance could be of appeal to minors due to their similarities to the in-game currencies of ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox and how many under-18s play video games.
As such, the authority deemed the ad to be breaking gambling advertising rules, telling the operator not to feature it again in its current form and not to feature content in their adverts that has a strong appeal to under-18s or is reflective of youth culture.
However, in an update, that decision by the ASA has now been reversed.
An Entain spokesperson told iGaming Expert: “We welcome the ASA’s decision to overturn its original ruling on Ladbucks advertising.
“The independent review has recognised that this was a responsibly designed marketing that does not have a strong appeal to under-18-year-olds.”
In its update, the ASA noted that despite having some similar features, the Ladbucks poker-chip styling “primarily reflected long-established gambling conventions”, it was distinctive from V-bucks and Robux in terms of bright colours and it wasn’t used in a manner to draw references to particular video games.
“We considered that although the name Ladbuck alongside the token’s imagery created some parallels with in-game currencies popular with under-18s, those similarities were not obvious enough to make the ads likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s,” said the ASA.
“Those similar features were generic and did not invite an obvious comparison with the tokens used in Fortnite and Roblox. Therefore, we concluded the ads were not likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.”
The update to the ruling added no further action is necessary from Entain regarding the Ladbrokes ad.
This story was first published on Affiliate Leaders’ sister title, iGaming Expert.
