Sky Bet Tweet Featuring Gary Neville Banned Over Gambling Advertisement Rules

18 October 2023
ShareSave


Tom RichardsonBBC Newsbeat


A Sky Bet tweet including Gary Neville has been banned for breaking guidelines on gambling .


The post used an ingrained clip of the ex-footballer predicting 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 appeal to under-18s" - which Sky Bet declined.


The ASA's code states betting adverts ought to not attract children or youths, "especially by reflecting or being connected with youth culture".


They state their guidelines are based upon the fact that gaming is not for under-18s, so adverts on the topic can't be directed at that age group in any method.


'Flawed process'


Sky Bet said The Overlap, sponsored by the company and produced by Neville, was "noticeably 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 expert 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 imposes UK advertising guidelines, stated it had computed Neville had 135,000 under-18 fans across Instagram and X, previously called Twitter.


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


But the authority believed the total number was "significant" sufficient to conclude the advertisement was careless.


Alcohol adverts featuring rap artist ArrDee banned


'We'll actually view the Olympics if there's cricket'


'Right time to tackle barriers in females's football'


The ad featuring Neville was a promoted tweet so the ASA stated SkyBet had actually been told not to release it again.


Its ruling also bans them from including him once again in any media that isn't strictly established to omit under-18s.


It said it had actually informed Sky Bet not to include anybody with a strong appeal to under-18s in their future marketing.


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


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


A spokesperson for Sky Bet's moms and dad company Flutter stated: "We basically disagree with this choice and the problematic procedure which resulted in this result - it defies both precedent and good sense.


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


It stated it would likewise look for "an independent review" of the case.


Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.