Letou Sports Betting & Online Casino, which is the shirt sponsor of Swansea City soccer team, has been investigated for using cartoons in their casino games’ promotional campaigns. According to Casino Guardian, the investigation started after the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, claiming that Letou’s advertising campaign could encourage children to gamble.
Representatives called for removal of the offending operator’s commercials for games which were likely to be found attractive to young individuals under the age of 17. For example, Letou used a character called “Santa Paws” in its ads on January 3, 2018.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling illustrated the problem by sending an image from the Letou website. The picture featured a cartoon polar bear dressed as Santa Claus. In addition, a number of other cartoon images used in the website were sent along.
A spokesman said the cartons in gambling advertising campaigns increases the risk of children becoming addicted to gambling. The advertisements could also make gambling and betting activities look normal to children, who are traditionally more susceptible to advertising messaging. According to the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, soccer clubs need to be careful when it comes to promoting gambling operators on their websites, as more vulnerable individuals could be affected by possible negative consequences.
Swansea City removed references to their shirt sponsor from the Junior Jacks section on their website. However, links to the shirt sponsor’s website and the one of the online gambling operator bet365 still remain on club’s official page.
Children have still been able to purchase and wear shirts which feature ads of gambling operators, in spite of the promise of local operators and authorities to keep such companies’ logos away from the young people’s reach.
Casino Guardian has reported nine Premier League’s junior teams that have been sponsored by gambling operators and do not display the betting firms’ logos on their shirts under a special agreement reached by the gambling sector and the clubs. However, one way or another, young people are still able to purchase shirts featuring gambling operators’ logos and ads for the time being.
