Why bet ads with Kane and Haaland were banned from Instagram: 'Irresponsible'

Harry Kane (left) and Erling Haaland at a Tottenham game against Manchester City in 2023
PA Media via BBC
Two Instagram adverts featuring football stars Harry Kane and Erling Haaland have been banned in the UK as they were deemed "irresponsible", the country's advertising regulator says.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the adverts, which were from an online betting site, breached its code because Kane and Haaland have a "strong appeal to under-18s".
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Oddschecker, which published the images, said they were "primarily editorial in nature, not advertisements" and that it had set up the account to only be accessed by those over 18.
However, the ASA said there are "a significant number of children who do not use their real date of birth when signing up" to Instagram.
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The ASA investigated the ads in question following a complaint from a researcher at the University of Bristol.
One of them showed an image of Kane with the caption: "Harry Kane is the player with the most bets to win the Ballon d'Or in 2026 (32% of bets)", with a trophy emoji.
The other showed Haaland and had the caption: "In the last 24 hours, Norway winning the 2026 World Cup is the most popular bet made via oddschecker."
Cyan Blue Odds Ltd, the company that operates Oddschecker, said it recognized that showcasing big-name football players could attract children and that it had set up the account so that only those over 18 could view it.
It argued that the posts were not advertising but rather more general "editorial" content, which is why no there were no age warnings or messages promoting responsible gaming.
The ASA rejected the defence, considering Kane and Haaland "as presenting a high risk of strong appeal to under-18s". that it is unlikely to appeal strongly to under-18s and therefore did not violate its code.
We used artificial intelligence to translate this report, originally written in English. The text was reviewed by a BBC journalist before publication. Find out more here about how the BBC is using artificial intelligence (link to English text).

Source: G1