Sky Bet Tweet Featuring Gary Neville Banned Over Gambling Advertisement 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 gambling adverts.


The post utilized an embedded 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 stating: "Brought to you by Sky Bet".


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


The ASA's code says gambling adverts should not appeal to children or youths, "specifically by reflecting or being associated with youth culture".


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


'Flawed procedure'


Sky Bet said The Overlap, sponsored by the business and produced by Neville, was "distinctly 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 6 at the time, the company had argued.


But the ASA, which enforces UK marketing rules, stated it had actually determined Neville had 135,000 under-18 fans across and X, previously referred to as Twitter.


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


But the authority believed the general number was "substantial" enough to conclude the advertisement was careless.


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The ad featuring Neville was a promoted tweet so the ASA said SkyBet had been informed not to publish it again.


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


It stated it had told Sky Bet not to include anybody with a strong attract under-18s in their future marketing.


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


X told the regulator the advertisement did not breach any of its present policies and it had not received any problems.


A spokesman for Sky Bet's moms and dad business Flutter said: "We basically disagree with this decision and the problematic procedure which caused this result - it defies both precedent and good sense.


"The ASA did not get a single complaint from the public or broader stakeholders about the social media post in question."


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


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