The legal section

Section 330, the CAP Code, and what reaches a site like this one

Two separate regimes govern a gambling advertisement in Great Britain, and an affiliate site sits inside both. One is criminal and concerns who is being advertised; the other is a code and concerns how.

Two regimes, and an «affiliate» sits inside both

A gambling advertisement in Great Britain is governed twice over, and the two regimes answer different questions. The Gambling Act asks who is being advertised and makes it a criminal offence to advertise an operator without a licence; the advertising codes ask how the advertisement is made and bind the content, the placement and the audience. An «affiliate» (a publisher paid for the account rather than for the advertisement) site is squarely inside both. Section 327 of the Act defines advertising to include taking steps to encourage somebody to use gambling facilities and bringing information about them to somebody's attention with a view to increasing their use, which is a description of what a «comparison page» does.

The CAP Code, and the rule about strong appeal

The advertising codes are written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, and the provision that has done most to change British gambling advertising is the one about appeal to under-eighteens. Rule 16.3.12 prohibits advertisements likely to be of "strong appeal" to people under eighteen, and the test is about the content rather than about where it was placed.

The ASA issued an enforcement notice on the fourth of June 2026 concerning gambling advertisements on social media, began active monitoring on the eleventh of that month, and said it would refer content falling outside the Code's scope to the Gambling Commission instead. The notice told advertisers to review live advertising and withdraw anything likely to have strong appeal, immediately rather than at the next campaign. The practical reach of the rule is wider than most people assume. It is not confined to cartoons and children's characters: a sportsperson with a large following among under-eighteens, a reference drawn from youth culture, or an animation style associated with children's media can all bring an advertisement inside it, and the test does not require the advertiser to have intended any of it.

What the codes require of the content itself

Beyond appeal, the codes require that gambling advertising is socially responsible and not misleading, and three requirements come up constantly in rulings. An offer must not be described in a way that obscures a significant condition, which in practice means the «wagering requirement» (the turnover a balance has to reach before it can leave) cannot be two clicks away. Advertising must not suggest gambling is a solution to financial difficulty or a route to social success. And it must not portray gambling as a way to recover losses!

The "significant conditions" requirement is the one that bears most directly on a page like this one. An offer presented with a headline figure and nothing else is incomplete under the codes as well as uninformative to a reader, which is the same conclusion arrived at from two directions, and it is why we publish four facts or no figure at all.

What an «affiliate» must do that an operator must also do

The Commission makes licensees responsible for the «third parties» they contract with, which reaches affiliates through the operator rather than directly. An «affiliate» (a publisher paid for the account rather than for the advertisement) putting non-compliant advertising in front of a British reader puts its operator in breach, and the operator's remedy is to terminate the arrangement, which happens routinely and quietly.

Three obligations follow from that in practice. The commercial relationship has to be disclosed clearly rather than buried. The age statement has to appear with the advertising rather than only in a footer. And offers quoted must be the offers actually available, with their conditions, on the date stated. Every page on this site carries the disclosure above the first commercial block and inside each card, the age statement under every button, and a date against every licence and every offer. That is not generosity: it is the minimum the codes describe, done where you can see it.

Questions readers ask

Do the advertising rules apply to «affiliate» sites or only to operators?

To both, by two routes. The criminal offence in section 330 is committed by whoever advertises unlawful gambling, «affiliate» or not. And the CAP Code binds the advertising itself, with the Commission making licensees responsible for the third parties they work with, so a non-compliant «affiliate» puts its operator in breach.

What counts as «strong appeal» to under-eighteens?

Content likely to appeal strongly to people under eighteen, judged on the content rather than on where it ran. It reaches sportspeople with a large under-eighteen following, references drawn from youth culture and animation styles associated with children's media, and it does not require the advertiser to have intended the appeal.

Must a bonus advert show the «wagering requirement»?

It must not obscure a condition significant to the offer, and a «wagering requirement» is the paradigm case. In practice that means the significant conditions have to appear with the offer rather than behind a link, which is the reason this site publishes four facts about an offer or declines to publish a figure at all.

What happened on 11 June 2026?

The Advertising Standards Authority began active monitoring of gambling advertising on social media, following an enforcement notice issued on 4 June 2026 about advertisements with strong appeal to under-eighteens. Advertisers were told to review live advertising and withdraw anything in breach immediately.

By the UK Pound Casino editorial team · Last updated November 2026 · Online since 2026