‘Ladbucks’ legal commentary

Incisive comments on the ASA’s recent decision to uphold a complaint against Ladbrokes. Comments are from Felix Faulkner, solicitor at licensing law firm Poppleston Allen.

All licensed operators in the UK must adhere to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) issued by the Gambling Commission, which is a set of rules and guidelines established to govern the behaviour of gambling operators. A large section of the LCCP relates to social responsibility, which covers the protection of minors and vulnerable people.

In the case of the Ladbrokes promotion ‘Ladbucks’, the ASA believed the Ladbucks name and appearance could be of appeal to under-18s due to their similarities to the in-game currencies of ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox and the large number of minors who play video games.

The other issue for the Agency was the use of the term ‘lad’, which, while part of Ladbrokes’ name, is typically associated with younger men, including teenaged men/youth.

In a statement upholding the complaints, the ASA commented: “We concluded the name Ladbucks, when considered alongside the imagery and the application of the coin in the ads, was depicted in a manner which was similar to features in video games popular with children. We therefore considered the term in the ads was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and breached the Code.”

Operator responsibility

While it is understandable that a brand called Ladbrokes might produce an in-play betting reward token with the term ‘lad’ in it, it is of utmost importance for all licence holders to sense-check a number of things before running a promotion:

• The terminology and naming of products and rewards offers

• Both the historic and current colloquial use of any term they’re considering employing

• Any subsequent advertising based around that

Further, operators must be reminded that the threshold for gambling advertisements under the ASA Cap Code is “likely to strongly appeal to children or young persons…”.

It is evident from the Ladbrokes decision that the ASA believed the close link to Fortnite and Roblox pushed this proposal over the line, and the argued mitigation from Ladbrokes was not enough to defend the case.

Responsible gambling is a fundamental tenet of the Gambling Act, and the remit falls solely in the laps of operators and licence holders to ensure that their marketing and advertisements always adhere to the LCCP and the ASA regulations. It is always better to be safe than sorry.