Following established guidelines, even if they don’t always seem fair, is paramount for a gaming operator to retain its license. However, two operators in the UK, Betway and MrQ, reportedly violated the rules when they targeted children.
Betway’s wall of fame at its office in South Africa. In the UK, the gaming operator will have to pay a huge fine after its logo and a link to its website appeared on sports teams’ web pages for children. (Image: Twitter/BMR30)
Online gaming operators know that their operations are under constant scrutiny, especially in certain countries. However, this didn’t stop the two platforms from deviating off course.
One will now have to pay a significant fine to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to settle its case. The other wasn’t as egregious, but its marketing department will need to be more proactive in the future.
Betway’s Teddy Bear Drama
The UKGC announced on its website on Tuesday a £408,915 (US$463,178) fine against Betway over teddy bears. The drama goes back to April 2020 when the Super Group-owned brand had a marketing presence on the website of the West Ham soccer team.
The marketing gimmick allowed children to print a picture of a teddy bear from the website and color it. The page that contained the picture also included Betway’s logo, which linked to its website.
In another case, the company’s logo found its way to the soccer club’s “Young Hammers at Home” page. That page was an initiative the team created during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep young minds occupied while they missed school. Including sports betting wasn’t supposed to be part of the arrangement.
To be fair, West Ham wasn’t the only club guilty of having teddy bears exposing Betway. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Aston Villa, and others also displayed the link.
Betway’s logo appeared until November 2021. As soon as the BBC broke the news, the clubs began taking them down.
MrQ Calls Spidey Into Action
Online gaming platform MrQ thought it was creating an ad that was safe, but it got caught in a web of trouble. With the hype surrounding the ongoing saga of Spiderman on the big screen, it turned to the web-slinger to be its pitchman.
MrQ, part of the Lindar Media gaming group, put an ad on Reddit that brought the cartoon version of Spiderman to life. In it, there are three different versions of the superhero pointing at each other, with a captioned “MrQ” floating over their heads.
The image itself is a popular meme that has been recreated many times to depict when several different items are the same. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received several complaints from individuals who argued that the use of a cartoon would strongly appeal to children.
As a result, the ASA censured MrQ and put it on notice. Lindar, in accepting the outcome, asserted that an ad agency created the ad, although it admitted to approving the campaign without viewing it. The company said it has since terminated its relationship with the agency.
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