In the Rue de l’Université in Liège, a shop window belonging to the sports betting chain Ladbrokes catches everyone’s eye. On the facade, dummy capsules enclose footballs. The slogan says it all: “A dose of football? No prescription required, 90-minute dose, to be repeated every week”.
Advertising restrictions
Since the end of 2022, the Belgian government has been drastically restricting gambling advertising. These measures are based on an alarming fact: almost 40% of the sector’s turnover comes from so-called ‘problem’ gamblers. The proportion is even higher for sports betting.
Local authorities are also seeking to take action, in particular by regulating the location of sales outlets near schools.
Criticism from health professionals
At the Alfa Liège centre, which specialises in helping addicts, the reaction is clear-cut.
“A dose’ is a term used by the drug-using public; “to get your fix”. Mentioning “without a prescription” is trivialising and implies that it’s not dangerous for your health, since you don’t need medical advice. The term “posology” refers to a medical term of dosage and frequency (90 min, every week…) to be respected. The image of capsules also refers to care, suggesting the importance of going all the way (every match), like finishing a course of antibiotics”, explains Martine Grooten, from the Therapeutic Service.
In Liège, associations are reminding people that gambling addiction affects not only gamblers, but also their families. The Alfa centre offers psychological and social care, emphasising that the problem is not confined to casinos or online gambling. Sports betting, which is becoming increasingly popular, is becoming a sensitive area where the line between leisure and compulsion is rapidly becoming blurred.
A series of controversies
Ladbrokes regularly finds itself at the centre of controversy over its advertising campaigns, which are accused of crossing acceptable lines in terms of protecting minors. For example, the Ladbucks ad, launched in December 2024, was banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) because it used language and visuals similar to those of virtual currencies in video games popular with young people, such as V-Bucks or Robux. The ASA considered that these elements – shiny coins, an arcade of free games and rewards – were likely to be highly attractive to under-18s.
In another example, parents have complained about Ladbrokes ads appearing in the YCC365 Plus baby monitor/video monitor app, which is used to monitor babies. Seeing this type of advertising in an environment so closely linked to child surveillance provoked a strong reaction. These ads offered, among other things, a welcome bonus, which is all the more shocking when discovered in areas supposedly free of any commercial solicitation linked to gambling.
These cases illustrate a structural tension: on the one hand, Ladbrokes claims to comply with (and sometimes go beyond) regulations on responsible gambling and the protection of minors; on the other hand, its advertising choices are judged by some to be imprudent, even inciting vulnerable audiences.
Ladbrokes’ advertising in the Rue de l’Université provoked a debate. It raises a fundamental question: how far can advertising creativity go without fuelling a public health problem?