Betway has been fined £408,915 by the Gambling Commission for marketing on the children’s pages of West Ham United Football Club’s website.
The commission’s investigations into the advertisements displayed late last year found that the brand’s gambling logo, which linked to the Betway website, was displayed on a webpage offering the opportunity to print a teddy bear for children to colour in.
The Betway logo was also found on the ‘Young Hammers at Home’ webpage between October and November 2021.
Both ads breached the gambling authority’s rules that stated gambling advertising must be socially responsible.
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“Protecting children from gambling harm is at the heart of what we do,” Gambling Commission director of enforcement, Leanne Oxley, said.
“Although there is no suggestion that the operator was deliberately targeting children, or that children had been allowed to gamble, we take the breach of any rules aimed at protecting children extremely seriously.
“We note the remedial actions since taken by licensee but advise all operators to learn from this case and ensure that they take responsibility and have the correct processes in place so that websites directed at children do not include advertisements for gambling.”
The news comes months after the UK Gambling Commission set out new rules to ensure that online gambling brands take more action to protect and identify customers at risk of harm.
