Midnite’s advertising activities have once again drawn the attention of the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Dribble Media Ltd, operating under the Midnite brand, had already received a warning in September for a post featuring Trent Alexander-Arnold. Now, the regulator’s attention has turned to an ad featuring former Tottenham Hotspur footballer Son Heung-min.
In both cases, the ASA upheld complaints that featuring footballers like Son and Alexander-Arnold in promotional posts could make them particularly appealing to audiences under 18.
Notably, both complaints came from researchers at the University of Bristol, which houses a center studying the impact of gambling.
The latest ruling concerns a Midnite post on X dated 23 May. The post included a video of Son holding the Europa League trophy, captioned: “How bro starts acting after winning £8.10 from a 30p 8 fold acca bet”.
Although Midnite acknowledged that Son could be considered “high-risk” in terms of appeal to under-18s due to his popularity and status as an active footballer, the company insisted that the content was editorial in nature and not intended to attract users or promote gambling products or services.
Midnite did not consider this post to be marketing communication. Nevertheless, as with the post featuring Alexander-Arnold, the ASA ruled that it constituted advertising and therefore fell under the CAP Code.
The ruling states: “The post was published following Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Manchester in the final of the Europa League, which was a high-profile game that attracted significant media attention.
“We understood that Midnite offered bets on football matches. The post also included a direct reference to an accumulator, which was a type of betting slip. It also included a reference to winning money on a bet.
“We considered the purpose of the post was to promote the brand through creating a viral video, and that it had featured a direct reference to gambling. It was therefore directly connected with the supply of betting services and was an ad falling within the scope of the CAP Code.”
X’s Age Control Mechanisms Under Scrutiny
Similar to previous rulings involving Midnite and Sky Bet, the ASA questioned the effectiveness of age control mechanisms on the X platform.
Although X has measures to restrict access to gambling company content for users under 18, the platform still relies on self-verification of age at registration.
As evidence, the ASA cited an Ofcom study showing that 32% of children aged 8–17 with at least one social media account reported an age of 18 or over when signing up.
Consequently, the regulator considered it likely that a significant number of children who had provided incorrect ages could view and be targeted with content from verified gambling accounts.
Given these circumstances, the ASA found that the ad breached CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3, and 16.3.1.2, and ordered that it must not be published again in the form that prompted the complaint.
Additionally, the ASA instructed Midnite not to feature persons or characters with strong appeal to under-18s in future communications.
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