The ASA has split its judgment on two separate gambling advertising cases, clearing Betway’s use of Thierry Henry whilst coming down hard on Oddschecker for Instagram posts featuring Harry Kane and Erling Haaland. Both rulings, published on 27 May, turn on the same critical question: does the footballer involved have strong appeal to under-18s?

Why Betway Walked Free

The regulator accepted Betway’s core argument that Henry, now 48 and best known as a television pundit since retiring in 2014, simply doesn’t carry the same pull with younger audiences that active players do. The numbers backed this up. Henry commands 4.32 million social media followers globally, but only an estimated 19,483 UK followers are under 18. Well below the 100,000 threshold the Committee of Advertising Practice uses to flag genuine youth appeal.

This was a significant win for Betway given its recent track record with the regulator. Just months earlier, the ASA reprimanded the operator over an F1 advertisement, rejecting its defences on that occasion. This time, the regulator was satisfied the evidence stacked up.

Oddschecker’s Misstep

Oddschecker wasn’t so fortunate. The odds comparison site posted images of Kane and Haaland alongside betting data on Instagram, arguing these were editorial content rather than advertising. The ASA dismissed that entirely. They were clearly designed to promote gambling activity.

Both players presented a materially different profile, frankly. Kane is England captain and the second-highest Premier League goalscorer ever. Haaland is a reigning Premier League Golden Boot winner. Active elite players command genuine appeal to younger audiences in ways a retired pundit simply doesn’t.

Oddschecker pointed to account-level age restrictions and the 18+ setting on its Instagram account, but the ASA wasn’t convinced. The regulator cited Ofcom research showing 76% of 16 to 17-year-olds use Instagram, with around 20% of under-18s using false ages to register. Restrictions, in short, don’t cut it.

The instruction is clear: the advertisements cannot be shown again. It’s a reminder that how you present gambling content matters every bit as much as who’s featuring in it.

What the team thinks

Sheena McAllister says:

The ASA’s distinction between Henry’s established punditry credentials and Kane/Haaland’s active playing careers is sensible from a child appeal perspective, but it exposes a genuine grey area for operators: at what point does a footballer’s prominence among younger audiences fade enough to clear the compliance bar? What concerns me more is the inconsistency this creates across platforms, where Instagram’s demographic skew toward under-25s arguably makes any high-profile athlete risky compared to traditional TV spots, yet the ASA’s ruling doesn’t seem to account for channel-specific audience composition. Operators need clearer guidance on how platform demographics factor into appeal assessments, or we’ll keep seeing these reactive enforcement actions rather than preventative compliance frameworks.