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 featuring Gary Neville has actually been banned for breaking guidelines on betting adverts.


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


Sky Bet's logo design appeared throughout the video, which ended with text specifying: "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 rejected.


The ASA's code states betting adverts should not attract children or young people, "particularly by reflecting or being associated with youth culture".


They say their rules are based on the fact that betting is not for under-18s, so adverts on the topic can't be directed at that age in any way.


'Flawed process'


Sky Bet said The Overlap, sponsored by the company and produced by Neville, was "noticeably adult in tone and did not feature any material of a childish nature".


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


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


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


It acknowledged this was a "small proportion" of his combined following on both, which was 7.1 m when it released its examination in March 2023.


But the authority thought the total number was "substantial" sufficient to conclude the ad was reckless.


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The advertisement including Neville was a promoted tweet so the ASA said SkyBet had actually been informed not to publish it once again.


Its judgment likewise bans them from featuring him again in any media that isn't strictly set up to omit under-18s.


It said it had actually Bet not to include anyone with a strong appeal to under-18s in their future advertising.


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


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


A spokesperson for Sky Bet's moms and dad business Flutter said: "We basically disagree with this decision and the flawed procedure which resulted in this result - it defies both precedent and typical sense.


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


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


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