An email advertising campaign marketing Betfair Poker was pulled from the media by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the United Kingdom, after it was ruled that the ad in question encouraged underage gambling. The ad featured poker wunderkind Annette Obrestad, the 20 year old Swedish player who is a fixed feature on the international poker circuit. It was the text “Online experience is measured in games, not years. Join the new bread. Annette_15” that got ASA’s back up. 

The group claimed that anybody not familiar with Obrestad would not know that her user name online is Annette_15 and would simply assume that Betfair is using young girls to push their product. Certainly Obrestad looks a very young 20 year old in the ad. Referring to the UK’s tough gambling laws, ASA stated: “We noted the code stated that no one under 25 years of age should be featured gambling in a marketing communication, or playing a significant role. Because Ms Obrestad was 20 years old and because, as a professional poker player, she played a significant role in gambling in the ad, we concluded the ad breached the provisions of the code.“