UK’s ASA Upholds Complaint Against LiveScore Bet

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against two of LiveScore Bet’s ads. As it turned out, the ads appeared to minors, which is strictly prohibited in the UK.

Complaint Said LiveScore Displayed Gaming Ads to Minors

The complaint relates to two ads that were aired on LiveScore, a soccer score app, on January 10 this year. It should be mentioned that, unlike the LiveScore Bet platform, the LiveScore app is available to minors too.

The first of the two ads, viewed on an Android device, displayed live soccer scores. The LiveScore Bet logo appeared on the same page next to an on/off toggle. Toggling the on option displayed betting odds and linked to the LiveScore Bet app when clicked.

The second ad, meanwhile, was viewed on an IOS device and featured a page that displayed soccer team lineups. Much like the other ad, this one featured three different odds that redirected users to the LiveScore Bet app when clicked.

LiveScore Bet Was Unable to Replicate the Reported Issue

LiveScore Betting and Gaming emphasized that its LiveScore and LiveScore Bet were separate products under the same family. It explained that the sportsbook had selected the app as an advertising partner due to the app’s audience, which is mostly comprised of adults.

The company insisted that the LiveScore app had an age-gating tool that barred minors from viewing gaming content. Instead, the app would only display odds and gambling content to those declaring themselves to be adults.

LiveScore Bet further stated that its testing of the under-18 version of the app was unable to replicate instances of gambling content being shown to minors. The company therefore reiterated its confidence that its app was working as intended.

LiveScore Bet acknowledged that there had been a problem with a historic IOS version of the app that displayed gambling content despite the filters. However, testing of this historic version suggested that the odds displayed did not link to further gambling content.

LiveScore Bet concluded that the most recent version of the App was working correctly.

ASA Upheld the Complaint and Warned LiveScore Bet

The ASA assessed the matter and understood that new LiveScore app users were required to select their age category. A warning informed users that some of the content might not be suitable for minors. Depending on what users selected, they were shown a different version of the app.

The ASA acknowledged that LiveScore Bet had been unable to replicate the Android ad issue. However, the ASA team emphasized that it had seen the ad appear in the under-18 version.

The IOS ad, on the other hand, was deemed to have been appropriately targeted, even if the reason for the issue was a technical problem.

As a result, the ASA upheld the complaints, saying that the ads had breached the UK’s regulations and that they must not appear in the under-18 version of the LiveScore app again. The ASA warned the operator to remain vigilant and prevent future issues.