Betway has been fined more than £400,000 after the gambling giant advertised on a children's colouring page on West Ham United's website. The company displayed its logo on two pages of the Premier League club's site designed for children, breaking the Gambling Commission's rules on social responsibility, between 2020 and 2021.
One breach lasted for three weeks, but the logo on the other page – where children could print a picture of a teddy bear to colour in – remained for more than 18 months. Leanne Oxley, the commission's enforcement director, said: "Protecting children from gambling is at the heart of what we do.
"Although there is no suggestion that the operator was deliberately targeting children, or that children had been allowed to gamble, we take the breach of any rules aimed at protecting children extremely seriously." She advised other gambling companies to "learn from this case" and ensure they have "the correct processes in place" to avoid similar mistakes.
