The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published rulings against both Cyan Blue Odds, trading as Oddschecker, and Betway for social media posts made in November 2025.
Oddschecker
Oddschecker made two Instagram posts, the first featuring a picture of Harry Kane with the caption: “Harry Kane is the most backed player to win the Ballon d'Or in 2026 (32% of bets) [trophy emoji]".
The second post featured Erling Haaland with the caption: “In the last 24 hours, Norway to win the 2026 World Cup is the most backed bet placed through oddschecker. [...] Their price has shortened to a general 50/1 but there is still 80/1 available with a couple of bookmakers... [eyes emoji]".
A researcher from the University of Bristol complained that the adverts featured individuals who had a strong appeal to minors.
Notably, the University of Bristol has a Hub for Gambling Harms Research, meaning that it has researchers working on preventing gambling harm on site.
Oddschecker argued that the posts were editorial in nature, rather than advertisements, saying “it was commentary and editorial content on football personalities and events rather than an invitation to gamble.”
This is why the posts did not contain age disclaimers or social responsibility messaging that would usually accompany gambling promotions.
Oddschecker also has account-level measures to restrict access to the page unless the user is verified as over 18.
However, as the posts contained celebrities with high appeal to minors and explicitly referred to sports betting through odds and bookmakers, ASA upheld the complaint, concluded the ads were “irresponsible” and breached social responsibility CAP codes.
Betway
Similar to Oddschecker, the complainant was a researcher from the University of Bristol who challenged that these adverts appealed to minors.
The Instagram post from Betway featured Thierry Henry, with the text: “For the first time in a long time, I can see this team winning the league - not just as an Arsenal fan, but as a football fan and an analyst [...]."
The image also contained social responsibility messaging and the GambleAware logo.
Considering that Henry is 48 years old and retired from football in 2014, ASA concluded that “he was therefore primarily known among adult football fans rather than the younger generation.”
The Authority backed this up by investigating Henry’s social media presence.
His most active profile was on Instagram, where he had a total of 4.32 million followers. A total of 11% of these were based in the UK and 4.1% of all his followers were under 18. When factoring these together, the ASA estimated that 19,483 of his fans were both under 18 and in the UK – far below the follower count needed to count as a strong appeal to minors.
The Authority also noted that Henry’s role was focused on punditry and analysis, rather than promoting sports betting.
Considering all of the above, ASA ruled that the ad was not strongly appealing to those under 18.
However, Betway has gotten in trouble in the past, particularly when it used Lewis Hamilton in an advert.
CAP Guidance states that at least 100,000 social-media follower accounts registered to people under-18, across social media platforms, was indicative of a strong appeal
