UK affiliate Optival breaches CAP Code with search ad

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled on October 28 that UK affiliate Optival Ltd broke advertising rules when one of its paid search ads appeared for a user searching self-exclusion bookies.

Optival runs the comparison site bestbookiesandbettingsites.co.uk. Its ad, shown on August 10, 2026, promoted the “Top 15 Betting Sites UK” along with first bet and welcome bonuses. The ASA said the search suggested the user was trying to cut back on or stop gambling and could be vulnerable. Optival sends users to bookmakers and doesn’t take bets itself, but the regulator found the ad still promoted online betting.

Optival said it hadn’t targeted the phrase. It provided Google Ads search term reports that showed no direct match, and it pointed to negative keyword lists blocking searches about self-exclusion, GamStop and other problem gambling terms. The company blamed the ad platform’s automated query matching, called it an isolated case and said it would widen its exclusions.

The ASA found that Optival’s controls at the time weren’t strong enough. It said there was a “strong likelihood” that vulnerable consumers had been targeted, even if unintentionally, and ruled that the ad breached rule 1.3 of the CAP Code on social responsibility. Optival must make sure the ad doesn’t appear again for that search or similar terms, and must show that it has improved targeting on its gambling-related search ads.

Self-exclusion registrations in the UK have been rising, reaching 562,000 by the end of 2025. All licensed operators in the country must offer a self-exclusion arrangement.