ASA Shifts Gambling Ad Exposure Research Towards Online Platforms

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published a strategic review of 14 years of data on children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads on October 22, 2026. It is now shifting its research focus to the ads children see online, including gambling ads. This decision could significantly affect how regulators implement new policies going forward.

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The ASA Shifts Its Attention to Online Advertising

The best online casinos advertise their products online because that’s how they reach new, younger players. Young adults and children spend much of their time online, which exposes them to digital gambling promotions more than traditional television advertising.

The ASA says it will now focus on understanding children’s experiences in online environments, where they are increasingly spending their time. This means that the new research initiative will cover everything that appears on social media, websites, video-sharing platforms, and other online environments.

• Agency: Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
• New Research Priority: Monitor and analyse children’s exposure to gambling-related advertising online
• Monitoring Method: Avatar monitoring, the Active Ad Monitoring AI system and the 100 Children Report
• Main Concern: The prevalence of gambling content that reaches underage audiences

What Prompted the New ASA Research Priorities

Children’s exposure to age-restricted TV ads has fallen because they watch less broadcast TV, according to the ASA. Children’s average weekly exposure to gambling TV ads fell 59% from its 2013 peak of 4.4 ads to 1.8 in 2023.

Here’s what ASA also determined:

• Average weekly exposure to television ads among children fell from 226.7 ads in 2010 to 58.2 in 2023.
• Average weekly exposure to alcohol advertising on television went from 3.2 ads in 2010 to 0.7 in 2023.
• In 2023, children saw around one gambling TV ad for every six seen by adults.

The ASA says its TV figures now give an incomplete picture, because the BARB data behind them does not cover streaming or video-sharing platforms.

Why Online Advertising Became an Area of Concern

Many established and new UK online casinos are advertising their products online in a variety of ways. The ASA’s Active Ad Monitoring system scans around 10,000 paid online gambling ads from licensed operators every month.

ASA has an obligation to assess the potential dangers of children encountering online gambling advertisements. The organization must determine whether the advertising itself targets underage audiences.

A 2024 ASA study also examined how ad supply intermediaries handled age-restricted ads that were mistargeted to websites and YouTube channels popular with children.

How ASA Will Monitor Online Gambling Advertisements

ASA’s approach to monitoring online content is multi-faceted and involves various initiatives and methods. They include:

• Child-avatar technology. Since 2019, the ASA has run four studies using avatars that simulate children’s online profiles. It notes the results are not a true representation of children’s real-life exposure.
• AI-powered advertisement monitoring. The ASA’s AI-based Active Ad Monitoring system processed 60 million ads in 2025, up from 28 million in 2024.
• First-hand research into children’s online experience. The ASA’s 100 Children Report tracked the personal devices of 97 children aged 11 to 17 for seven days. Of the 11,424 ads they were served, 269 were for gambling.

What Could Happen in the Future

The ASA says it will continue and expand its measurement of children’s exposure to age-restricted ads wherever they appear. It has not announced new rules or a timeline. These changes could include influencer partnerships, social media feeds, and live-streaming.

ASA could also enforce its rules more strictly, affecting operators and casino brands that rely on online advertising. UK advertising rules already bar gambling ads from featuring anyone who is, or seems to be, under 25 in a significant role.

The Active Ad Monitoring system also makes it much easier for ASA to scan paid online advertisements. They’ll use this technology to identify and flag anything that breaks the rules concerning age-restricted products. ASA could then update its policies based on what this system discovers.

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