The United Kingdom presently has very tough gambling laws and the Advertising Standards Authority’s code states that no one under the age of 25 is allowed to be featured gambling in a marketing communication, or playing a significant role therein.

It is no wonder, therefore, that the ASA has banned an email advertising campaign marketing Betfair Poker as it was found that the ad encouraged underage gambling. The ad in question featured Annette Obrestad, the 20 year old Swedish “wunderkind” who is well known on the international poker circuit. The ASA was totally against the text “Online experience is measured in games, not years. Join the new bread. Annette_15”. Annette was the winner of the World Series of Poker Europe. She looks a very young 20 years old and does not look as though she is old enough to play online poker.

The Advertising Standards Authority claimed that many people would not realize that Obrestad’s online name is Annette_15” and they would presume that Betfair is trying to promote their product by using young girls. They banned the ad as they found that it breached the provisions of the code because as a professional poker player, she played a significant role in gambling in the ad and people would imply that she was 15 years old. They felt that this would encourage young people to gamble.

Although Obrestad won the World Series of Poker Europe at the age of 18 the ASA demands that no one under the age of 25 may appear in gambling marketing.