The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned two Instagram adverts featuring football stars Harry Kane and Erling Haaland for being “irresponsible.”
The Advertising Standards Authority ruled the ads, posted by online betting site Oddschecker, breached its code because the players had a “strong appeal to under-18s.”
Oddschecker, operating under the legal name Cyan Blue Odds Ltd, argued the posts were “primarily editorial in nature, rather than ads” and insisted it had set the account to 18-plus.
The ASA rejected that defence, noting there was “at least a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up” to Instagram.
The watchdog launched its investigation into the November adverts following a complaint submitted by a researcher at Bristol University.
One post showed a picture of Kane with the caption: “Harry Kane is the most backed player to win the Ballon d’Or in 2026 (32% of bets),” accompanied by a trophy emoji.
The second post featured Haaland alongside the caption: “In the last 24 hours, Norway to win the 2026 World Cup is the most-backed bet placed through oddschecker.”
Oddschecker acknowledged that featuring top footballers could appeal to children, which was why it had restricted the account to over-18 viewers only.
The company also argued that because the posts were editorial rather than advertising, no age disclaimer or responsible gambling message was required.
The ASA dismissed these arguments entirely, considering Kane and Haaland “to be a high risk of strong appeal to under-18s.”
The authority concluded firmly: “For those reasons, we concluded the ads were irresponsible and breached the code.”
In a separate ruling, the ASA found that another Instagram advert featuring a footballer did not break its rules.
That advert, for Betway, featured former Arsenal forward and current pundit Thierry Henry, but the watchdog determined he was unlikely to appeal strongly to under-18s.
Because Henry did not meet the threshold for strong appeal to children, the Betway advertisement was found not to have gone against the ASA’s code.