West Ham’s main sponsor Betway has been whacked with a fine of over £400,000 for marketing on children’s webpages, adding to the tide of penalties handed out to gambling firms in recent months.
The Gambling Commission found that between 14 April 2020 and 6 November 2021 the operator’s gambling logo, which linked to its website, was displayed on a webpage offering the opportunity to print a teddy bear for children to colour in.
Enquiries by the watchdog also revealed a logo with a link to the operator’s webpage featured on the ‘Young Hammers at Home’ webpage between 24 October 2021 and 15 November 2021.
Both advertisements breached the watchdog’s rules stating gambling advertising must be socially responsible.
Director of Enforcement at the Commission Leanne Oxley said: “Protecting children from gambling harm is at the heart of what we do.
“Although there is no suggestion that the operator was deliberately targeting children, or that children had been allowed to gamble, we take the breach of any rules aimed at protecting children extremely seriously.”
A spokesman for Betway said: “On this occasion, the Betway logo – owing to a technical error – appeared on a restricted section of the West Ham United website. As soon as we were made aware of this error, we took immediate action to get it removed.
“Nonetheless, we accept the fine and will continue to work closely with the club to ensure this does not happen again.”
The online gambling giant will pay out £408,915 to the watchdog for its violations.
The news comes after a summer of fines for big betting firms.
The gambling watchdog whacked the betting shop owner Entain with record £17m last month over “completely unacceptable” anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.
It said the Ladbrokes and Coral owner repeatedly failed to protect problematic gamblers from betting huge sums in their shops and online casinos.
The commission also handed Spreadex a £1.36m fine in August for similar social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.
The news comes as the betting industry gears up for the landmark review of the Gambling Act 2005, which was initially expected in the Spring, but has been delayed on multiple occasions.
It’s now in the in-tray of new Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan to pave the future of the industry.
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