commit 46bd702814dbcf9f573392234db7dd0b2da206a3 Author: louellaculpin Date: Fri May 1 05:08:38 2026 +0000 Add 'Gary Neville, Lewis Hamilton & Chelsea Shine Light on Confusing Business Of Betting Ads' diff --git a/Gary-Neville%2C-Lewis-Hamilton-%26-Chelsea-Shine-Light-on-Confusing-Business-Of-Betting-Ads.md b/Gary-Neville%2C-Lewis-Hamilton-%26-Chelsea-Shine-Light-on-Confusing-Business-Of-Betting-Ads.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a25a642 --- /dev/null +++ b/Gary-Neville%2C-Lewis-Hamilton-%26-Chelsea-Shine-Light-on-Confusing-Business-Of-Betting-Ads.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +
Advertising continues to be a progressively complicated discipline for British bookmakers, with 3 operators including Sky Bet getting reprimands from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today.
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The three judgments come simply a week after the ASA updated its guidance on how gambling firms can avoid inadvertently targeting under-18s - upgrading the profile of which characters can be conceited to have a strong appeal to this demographic.
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How down with the kids is Gary Neville?
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Of the 3 cases, the most significant is that of Sky Bet. The FlutterEntertainment-owned brand name is among the top pets in UK online betting, possibly even the marketplace leader according to some estimates.
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The ASA has bought the business to pull the online ad featuring Gary Neville, former Manchester United footballer and a well known pundit. The ASA has likewise informed Sky Bet not to publish any ads with a 'strong appeal' to under-18s in the future.
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The 2023 advertisement in question was a marketing tweet from Sky Bet featuring an ingrained video from The Overlap, a regular video series starring Neville. The Sky Bet logo was consisted of intermittently in the video, and at the end a motto read 'Brought to you by Sky Bet'.
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Gary Neville during a 2009 Champions League video game playing for Manchester United - Credit: photoyh/ Shutterstock
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This asks the question - how much appeal does Gary Neville have to under-18s?
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The 50-year old previous right-back hasn't played expertly because 2011 and is now more understood for his TV career, working for Sky Sports and including in a documentary about his [ownership](https://rentry.co/38602-the-bet9ja-promo-code-for-2026-is-yohaig) of Salford City FC.
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Also, the ASA's judgment [appears](http://bestgrowing.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=1622) to contradict previous judgments, something which Sky Bet cited in assistance of its advertisement. The ASA's declaration notes that: "They cited previous ASA rulings where more recently-retired footballers who had moved into punditry had been evaluated not to be of strong appeal to under-18s."
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Previous ASA judgments have actually okayed to operators working with retired footballers - William Hill and Robbie Savage, Paddy Power and Peter Crouch, and surprisingly, Sky Bet and Micah Richards, being 3 of the most significant examples.
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It has made the exception with Neville for two reasons - first of all, his routine punditry covering Premier League football games, and secondly, his social networks following. The ASA estimates that around 135,000 of Neville's social networks followers across X, TikTok and Instagram are under 18.
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This makes Neville a 'moderate risk' commercial partner according to the ASA. The event demonstrates how a person's social media following can be in this, with the CAP Code's 'guideline' is that 'at least 100,000 social networks fans accounts registered to people under-18, throughout social media platforms, is a sign of strong appeal'.
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Football and F1 - both off limits?
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The 2nd judgment may be a bit more cut and paste, although it does also highlight how divergent the ASA's method to imposing the [CAP Code](https://git.aiximiao.com/eleanorknowlto) - and the CAP Code itself - can be.
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Kwiff, signed up as Eaton Gate Gaming, shared a post to its X profile on 14 July 2024 including a picture of seven-time Formula One chauffeurs champion Lewis Hamilton ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which Hamilton would later on win.
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The advertisement featured a link to a post about the Grand Prix on kwiff's website. A complainant referred the ad to the ASA, challenging whether it may have had strong interest young people by featuring a prominent sportsperson.
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Interestingly, the complainant in concern was a scientist at the University of Bristol, which simply 2 weeks ago published a research study paper taking a look at the prevalence and effect of betting marketing - broken down on an episode of [iGaming Daily](https://www.herzog-it.de/suzannecorones).
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When it comes to the Hamilton advertisement, it is a bit more plain to see why the ASA evaluated this broke the CAP Code. Although as Kwiff noted, Hamilton is much older than some other chauffeurs - he is 40 while [four-time](https://www.tedxunl.org/?p=1) and 2024 chauffeurs champion Max Verstappen is 28 - it is undeniable that the motorist has a substantial public profile.
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The ASA's statement concluded: "We acknowledged that Sir Lewis Hamilton was mainly famous for his association with an adult oriented sport however considered he was effectively known to a general UK audience, including to kids and youths.
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"We thought about, based on his public profile, business collaborations, [media appearances](https://www.climaebagno.gr/index.php?_route_=blog/another-blog-post) and UK under-18 social networks following, that he had strong attract under-18s.
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"For those factors, we concluded the advertisement was reckless and breached the Code."
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Again though, while the ASA's assessment is simpler to understand in this case, when previous rulings are considered it does still present a confusing regulative landscape around advertising for video gaming operators.
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The ASA has actually previously [enabled operators](https://git.lvjusoft.com/richiemacqueen) to use active athletes in marketing based upon whether their sport has a strong appeal to youths. A bet365 social networks [advertisement](http://pilot.waytoacme.com/employer/the-bet-9ja-promotion-code-for-2026-is-yohaig) including middleweight fighter Chris Eubank ahead of his bout versus Liam Smith in Manchester in 2023 was okayed, for example.
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At the time, it seemed that active footballers were totally off-limits, while figures from other sports with a more specific niche, less catch-all following than football were more reasonable video game. Two years down the line, the ASA's ruling relating to Kwiff recommends this isn't completely the case.
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And on the topic of football, this brings us to the last case - one which didn't even feature any expert athletes. Instead, Betway's pre-roll out ad on YouTube in May 2024 featured football fans using Chelsea FC scarves.
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ASA says no to headscarfs
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The [ASA examined](https://www.transpacam.com/cooke-20-100mm-zoom/) that the use of the [Chelsea](http://git.modelhub.org.cn980/wiltoneisen559) logo design revealed on fans' headscarfs broke CAP Code standards on associating betting with youth culture, while also criticising the option of platform for the ad. The ASA mentioned Ofcom information to support its stance, specifying that 81% of 8-17 year olds who have social media have YouTube.
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Its declaration described: "We considered that it would have been appropriate for the logo to appear in a standalone context, for instance at the end of the advertisement, where it would act as a visual recommendation to a subject of the betting activity.
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"However, the logo was shown on fans' scarves, lanyards and hats. It also included on group shirts in wall display screens and on backgrounds within the [stadium building](http://mrjinit.com3000/shermanparente).
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"We considered that the representation of the group logo design in an advertisement that showed an arena experience for fans was likely to strongly attract children and youths who supported Chelsea FC or followed football more extensively."
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Chelsea's Stanford Bridge stadium - Credit: Hanafi Latif/ Shutterstock
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The industrial ties between football and betting have actually come under extensive scrutiny over the previous few years, especially throughout the Gambling Act review of 2020-2023.
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The publication of the Gambling Act review White Paper in April 2023 did little to appease demands for a clampdown on gambling sponsorship and marketing in sports. Neither has the Premier League's dedication to phasing out front-of-short sponsors from next season.
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With pressure mounting on the federal government to reevaluate at gambling regulations, marketing will likely continue to find itself in the shooting line. The ASA's rulings further hammer home that marketing will remain a complicated discipline for operators, and will probably just get harder as the years pass.
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