ASA’s AI Scans 13,000 Gambling Ads During FIFA Men’s World Cup

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has scanned more than 13,000 gambling ads since the FIFA men’s World Cup started, using AI-based monitoring which could help the self-regulatory body become less reliant on complaints from members of the public.

The ASA has been enhancing its Active Ad Monitoring (AAM) system, which can use AI to  check whether ads are in breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code.

The ASA is now monitoring more than 10,000 online paid ads per month. The scans use an AI model that can identify potential issues with an ad, and can then search for relevant previous ASA decisions that can pin down exactly where the ad falls in relation to the rules.

Mr Vegas ruling an example

According to the ASA, the majority of paid online ads by licensed gambling operators do not fall foul of the rules. However, the ASA ruled against operator Videoslots earlier this week, regarding a paid-for Facebook ad that was shown by its Mr Vegas brand on February 5. The ASA challenged whether the ad featured content likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and breached the CAP Code.

The ad showed an image with the headline “Mr Vegas casino slots sports” on a black brick wall and featured five tiles with imagery. One tile included the text “Pink Elephants 2” with a large pink cartoon elephant, backlit by beams of light on a lilac background. Another tile featured a large, robotic, cartoon shark with its jaws around the text "Razor returns" on a cartoon background.

The ASA investigated the ad in part due to intelligence gathered by itself, and it hints the ASA may be more likely to investigate operators without needing to receive complaints from viewers before any investigation is conducted.

TV advertising rules

With regards to television advertising around the World Cup, operators can adhere to the voluntary whistle-to-whistle ban that has been in place since 2019. Members of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling do not show TV adverts during live sporting events prior to the 9pm watershed.

Industry body the Betting and Gaming Council claimed this led to a 97% reduction in the number of TV betting adverts in its first year in operation.

This will have made some impact on this year’s World Cup, although the scope would have been limited. A majority of games have been played after the 9pm watershed, and in the UK, the broadcasting of the games is split between commercial broadcaster ITV and public service broadcaster BBC, which does not show ads.

World Cup impact

In February, a study published by the University of Sheffield found TV gambling adverts in the UK could have led to greater amounts of betting during the 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup compared with broadcasts that did not include gambling adverts. The study examined betting behaviour among men aged 18-45 in England during the tournament in Qatar.

According to the study, football betting increased by 16%-24% during matches broadcast on channels carrying gambling advertising. Participants were between 22% and 33% more likely to place a bet during matches that included television gambling advertising.

However, matches in that World Cup rarely went beyond the 9pm watershed, in part due to the time difference, so a majority of the ads would have been shown before or after games on ITV.