The UK Advertising Standards Authority has upheld two complaints against football betting platform Lebom in relation to ads published on social media.
The two ads that were investigated by the watchdog were paid-for ads on Facebook and X and were published in April 2025.
The Facebook ad featured a video by internet personality Mashtag Brady discussing the Lebom app with his friends at a pub surrounded by alcoholic drinks. The ad included a demonstration of the app and also showed the group drinking shots whilst Brady said, “Let’s get pissed.”
The video went on to show that the group had a prize pool for the winner of their betting league and that the one who finished bottom had to do a forfeit. As the video was ending, Mashtag said: “So download Lebom and get betting with your friends. Don’t bet against the bookie, bet against the boys, that’s the best way about doing it.”
The ad on X was similar to that on Facebook but with shortened clips and with Mashtag saying “So, we are going to be playing Lebom. Lebom allows you to gamble against your friends instead of the bookies. It’s pretty fucking genius. Let’s go get absolutely fucked up” and “so download Lebom. Don’t bet against the bookie, bet against the boys”.
Two complaints challenged whether the ads encouraged irresponsible gambling behaviour and excessive drinking.
In response to the complaints, Lebom argued that its app was different to other gambling products as it was a shared social experience similar to fantasy football or a pub sweepstake.
The operator said that the tone of the video was to parody a drinking game known colloquially as Soccer Saturday and that the references to alcohol throughout the ad were incidental.
Lebom explained that the loser scenes were to show the negative side of gambling. It also stated that once the watchdog notified it about the phrases in the ads, the ads were removed immediately, alongside one ad which showed the loser buying drinks in his underwear.
In its assessment, the ASA ruled that the ads promoted irresponsible gambling and encouraged excessive drinking.
The watchdog reminded the company that gambling ads must show gambling as a route to improve self-esteem or gain peer praise or admiration. The ASA explained that the ads went beyond just showing the realities of gambling and actively showed that the person who was winning was someone to be admired and the loser was someone to be looked down on. The ads breached CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3.1 and 16.3.6.
On the alcohol complaint, the ASA judged that the ads encouraged binge drinking. The regulator noted that alcohol was directly woven into the gambling activity, and the phrases used in the ad could be interpreted to glamorise excessive drinking, blurring the lines between gambling and substance abuse.