ASA Finds 45 Gambling Ads With Strong Under-18 Appeal in Two-Month Review

^{Fruit machines in a London pub. The ASA's latest enforcement report covers gambling ads with imagery likely to appeal strongly to under-18s. (Photo: Matt Brown / Wikimedia Commons)}

The Advertising Standards Authority says it found 45 social media gambling ads with imagery likely to strongly appeal to under-18s, out of roughly 10,000 pieces of content it reviewed between June and July 2026.

The figures come from an ASA enforcement report published on 30 September, which assessed compliance with Code rule 13.3.12, the provision barring gambling ads from using imagery with strong appeal to those under the legal gambling age.

99.5% Compliance Rate, Regulator Says

The ASA said the volume of non-compliant ads represented a compliance rate of approximately 99.5% against the rule, which it described as a high level of adherence across the social media gambling ads it reviewed during the two-month window.

The regulator said it contacted eight advertisers about the 45 non-compliant ads identified, and all eight removed the ads once flagged. No sanctions beyond removal were disclosed in the report.

Part of a Running Series of Compliance Checks

The report is one of a series of enforcement reports the ASA publishes to explain the action it takes once non-compliant ads are identified through its own monitoring, rather than relying solely on public complaints.

The ASA's report said the exercise "highlights high levels of compliance" with the under-18 appeal rule, even as it continues to find and act on a small number of non-compliant ads each cycle.

The under-18 appeal rule sits within the ASA's wider gambling advertising remit, which has faced repeated scrutiny in Britain over the past two years. A House of Lords committee previously called for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising, while the regulator's own past data has shown a reduction in the number of gambling ads seen by children compared with previous years.

The ASA has previously warned advertisers, including social media influencers, not to fall foul of its gambling advertising rules, and continues to monitor the sector through proactive sweeps rather than complaint-driven investigations alone.

The regulator did not name the eight advertisers involved in the latest report, in line with its usual practice for cases resolved informally once an ad is withdrawn.

Rule 13.3.12 of the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising bars gambling ads from being likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s, whether through imagery, themes or characters, even where the ad is not specifically targeted at that age group. The rule applies across social media, websites and other non-broadcast media, and sits alongside separate restrictions on where and when gambling ads can appear on television and radio.

Enforcement reports like this one form part of the ASA's "Active Ad Monitoring" programme, under which the regulator proactively searches for non-compliant content rather than waiting for complaints from the public. The approach has become a bigger part of its gambling remit in recent years, as regulators and campaigners have pushed for tighter oversight of social media advertising aimed at younger audiences.

The ASA's monitoring exercise covered a two-month window between June and July 2026. The report did not disclose whether a follow-up review covering a longer period or a wider sample of social media content is planned.