Sky Bet Tweet Featuring Gary Neville Banned Over Gambling Ad Rules

18 October 2023
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Tom RichardsonBBC Newsbeat


A Sky Bet tweet including Gary Neville has actually been banned for breaking guidelines on betting adverts.


The post used an ingrained clip of the ex-footballer anticipating Premier League winners on YouTube series The Overlap.


Sky Bet's logo design appeared throughout the video, which ended with text mentioning: "Brought to you by Sky Bet".


The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled Neville was "likely to be of strong attract under-18s" - which Sky Bet turned down.


The ASA's code states betting adverts should not interest children or young individuals, "especially by showing or being related to youth culture".


They state their guidelines are based upon the reality that gambling is not for under-18s, so adverts on the subject can't be directed at that age in any way.


'Flawed procedure'


Sky Bet stated The Overlap, sponsored by the business and produced by Neville, was "clearly adult in tone and did not include any content of a childish nature".


It also explained that the footballer, a star of Manchester United's "Class of '92", ended his professional profession in 2011.


An 18-year-old today would have been five or six at the time, the business had actually argued.


But the ASA, which enforces UK advertising guidelines, stated it had determined Neville had 135,000 under-18 fans throughout Instagram and X, previously known as Twitter.


It acknowledged this was a "little proportion" of his integrated following on both, which was 7.1 m when it introduced its investigation in March 2023.


But the authority thought the general number was "substantial" enough to conclude the ad was careless.


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The advertisement featuring Neville was a so the ASA said SkyBet had been told not to release it again.


Its ruling likewise bans them from including him once again in any media that isn't strictly set up to leave out under-18s.


It said it had actually told Sky Bet not to consist of anyone with a strong interest under-18s in their future marketing.


The ASA stated age figures for Neville's TikTok and Facebook followings were not available.


X informed the regulator the advertisement did not breach any of its existing policies and it had actually not gotten any grievances.


A spokesman for Sky Bet's moms and dad company Flutter said: "We fundamentally disagree with this choice and the problematic process which resulted in this outcome - it defies both precedent and sound judgment.


"The ASA did not receive a single grievance from the general public or wider stakeholders about the social networks post in concern."


It said it would likewise seek "an independent evaluation" of the case.


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