Ad description
A paid-for Facebook ad, seen on 4 July 2025 featured a video of three F1 drivers standing in the grandstand watching a race, taken from behind. Two Union Jack flags were shown either side of the drivers. A heading stated “WHO’S THE BEST OF THE BRITS?”. The middle driver wore a red uninform with the name “HAMILTON” across the back. The other two drivers were wearing uniforms without names. The video also included the Betway logo present throughout.
Text in a caption stated, “It’s the British GP this weekend and there’s more than one local hero vying for top spot at Silverstone. Will Hamilton maintain his home track dominance? Or can the new gen achieve legendary status? [chequered flag emoji] [trophy emoji].
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and therefore breached the Code.
Response
Betway Ltd t/a Betway did not dispute that Sir Lewis Hamilton was likely to be of strong appeal to under 18s, however, they said the way he was presented in the ad would have limited any appeal. They referenced CAP guidance on Gambling and lotteries advertising: protecting under-18s (2022) which stated that individuals with a significant under-18 following on social media were deemed high risk, and that sportspeople in adult oriented sports were categorised as "moderate risk” of having strong appeal to under 18s. They also highlighted that the Guidance that stated that personalities were assessed on the basis of their profile and relevance outside the context of the ad, and their appearance and behaviour in the ad.
They acknowledged that the image was meant to represent Sir Lewis Hamilton, but that it was not actually an image of him. They believed his appearance and positioning in the ad successfully limited the appeal to under 18s. They said they intentionally refrained from showing Sir Lewis Hamilton’s face or a frontal view, opting for a back-of-head shot to lessen the appeal to under 18s and make the image less relatable. They said Sir Lewis Hamilton’s involvement in the ad was minimal and that his inclusion contributed to a broader conversation about the British Grand Prix.
They also provided data regarding Sir Lewis Hamilton’s social media following. The data said Sir Lewis Hamilton had 1.6 million under-18 followers, out of a total of 39.7 million on Instagram, and 92,400 under-18 followers out of a total of 1.4 million on TikTok. They said he had a total audience of 6.3 million on Facebook, and 8.5 million on X, but that they didn’t have the under-18 follower details for those accounts.
They said the ad ran for a limited time and included control settings which sought to target users aged over 25 years. They said the total number of individuals who engaged with the Facebook ad was 16,349, with the largest age group being 45 years and over (95% engagement), and the smallest age group to engage with the ad being 25–34 (0.75% engagement). They said these figures supported their assessment that the ad presented limited appeal for younger audiences.
Assessment
Upheld
From 1 October 2022, the CAP Code stated that marketing communications for gambling products must not be likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. They must not include a person or character whose example was likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who had strong appeal to those aged under 18.
We considered that it would have been acceptable for gambling ads which featured individuals likely to be of strong appeal to children to appear in a medium where those aged under 18, for all intents and purposes, could have been entirely excluded from the audience. That would apply in circumstances where those who saw the ads had been robustly age-verified as being 18 or older. We understood there was not a prescribed standard of age verification under UK law when the ad was seen, and that Facebook’s age-verification practices were in line with industry standard and the practices of other social media platforms. Our consideration was limited to whether the ads were in breach of CAP Code rule 16.3.12 by being of strong appeal to under 18s and we did not assess or have any comment on Facebook’s compliance with the legal requirements came into force on the 25 July 2025 under the UK’s Online Safety Act, which was a separate matter.
We understood that Facebook, as with other media platforms, at the time the ad was seen, relied on users to self-verify their ages on signing up to the platform, and therefore under 18s could falsely claim they were over 18 when creating an account.
The most recent Ofcom report from May 2025 (‘Children and parents: media use and attitudes’) which discussed media use, attitudes and understanding among children in the UK, stated that whilst 30% of respondents (namely their parents) said that their child used Facebook, that figure represented the proportion of usage amongst all 3- to 17-year olds. The report stated that the figure rose to 56% of 16- to 17-year olds.
An Ofcom report from 2022 (‘Children’s Online User Ages Quantitative Research Study’; sample based on quota of 1,000 social media users aged 8–17 years) also stated that “despite most platforms having a minimum age of 13, the research suggests that 6 in 10 (60%) children aged 8 to 12 who use these platforms are signed up with their own profile”.
Given that evidence, we considered it was likely that there was at least a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up to Facebook and were able to see and access content intended for those aged 18 or older, meaning they could view content from verified gambling accounts.
The image featured the back of someone wearing a red set of overalls with the name “HAMILTON” on the back looking over a racing track, with Union Jack flags either side. We considered that consumers, including those aged under 18, would have clearly recognised the figure as being Sir Lewis Hamilton, and therefore considered that the ad included Sir Lewis Hamilton, despite his face not being visible.
The ad featured Sir Lewis Hamilton, who had won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles and was recognised with a knighthood in 2021 for his outstanding achievements and contribution to motorsport. In his “Hall of Fame” bio on the Formula 1 website, Sir Lewis Hamilton was described as recognising his responsibility as a role model for young people, which further described that “the social media star encouraged his millions of supporters in ‘Team Hamilton’ to follow their dreams and never give up”. Sir Lewis Hamilton participated at the British Grand Prix on 6 July 2025, two days after the post was made. We considered that Sir Lewis Hamilton would be recognised by many as a household name in the UK, due to his exceptional success in his sport and his longstanding career.
CAP guidance in place at the time the ad appeared stated that sportspeople involved in clearly adult-oriented sports who were ‘notable’ stars with significant social media and general profiles which made them well known to under 18s, were likely to be of ‘moderate risk’ of strong appeal to under 18s and stated that they would be assessed on the basis of their social and other media profile.
The CAP Guidance also stated that a generally high social media following that attracted a significant absolute number of under-18 followers, as determined through quantitative or qualitative analysis, was likely to be considered an indicator of 'strong' appeal.
We considered Sir Lewis Hamilton was a notable star within the sport, with a significant public profile and social media following. As such, we considered that Sir Lewis Hamilton would have had strong appeal to under 18s, as both a moderate risk in terms of his status in an adult-oriented sport, and his significant social media following.
They provided information which we understood showed that Sir Lewis Hamilton had 1.6 million under-18 followers, out of a total of 39.7 million on Instagram, and 92,400 under-18 followers out of a total of 1.4 million on TikTok. They couldn’t provide the number of declared under-18 followers on Facebook, however, Sir Lewis Hamilton had a total of 6.3 million followers on that account. Although Betway didn’t provide UK specific follower numbers, CAP guidance in place at the time the ad appeared, indicated that a generally high social media following that attracted a significant absolute number of under-18 followers was likely to be considered an indicator of ‘strong’ appeal by the ASA.
We considered that a high number of total followers, for example, in the millions (in this instance), could indicate an increased risk of a large social media following of under 18s in the UK, even where that was a small proportion of the total.
Therefore, in the absence of a more detailed breakdown showing the number of under-18 UK followers, advertisers should consider that a high total of followers could indicate that a personality may have a high number of under-18 followers.
We noted that Betway did not dispute that Sir Lewis Hamilton was likely to be of strong appeal to under 18s, however, for the reasons stated above, we considered that the ad featured Sir Lewis Hamilton, and considered, based on his public profile and under-18 social media following that he had strong appeal to under 18s.
For those reasons, we concluded the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 16.1, 16.3 and 16.3.12 (Gambling).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Betway Ltd t/a Betway not to include a person or character who had strong appeal to those under 18 years of age.
