ASA says Sky Bet Gary Neville ad breaks its rules

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken an issue with betting and gaming operator Sky Bet’s tweet which featured the image of Gary Neville. According to the watchdog, this specific tweet was at odds with ASA’s code, which prohibits gambling advertisement to use famous personalities or their image that could appeal to children or young people.

Essentially, the regulator argues that a personality who appears on gambling advertisements should not be recognizable with those under the age of 18 as the law prohibits gambling for people at that age. Gambling advertisements have been under a lot of scrutiny in the United Kingdom, with ASA taking the charge in ensuring that it upholds ethical and regulatory standards.

The regulator issued a regulatory update in May this year, outlining further guidance on how gambling, betting, and gaming must not appeal to children. Sky Bet though has not fully acquiesced to ASA’s ruling, arguing that its advert did feature Neville but was "distinctly adult in tone and did not feature any content of a childish nature."

The company further noted that Neville played in Manchester United in the 90s and ended his professional career in 2011 and was therefore unlikely to appeal to children. However, ASA said that Neville actually had at least 135,000 followers who were under the age of 18 across his social media presence.

ASA did recognize the fact that this was just a small portion of the former player’s 7.1m followers, but the number itself, when related to children seeing unsolicited gambling adverts, was significant, and therefore the advert itself was "irresponsible."

Flutter Entertainment, the brand’s parent company, said that it disagreed with the decision and called the entire process of determining the target group flawed. Sky Bet and Flutter confirmed that they would seek an independent review to weigh in and clarify the situation.

Sky Bet further argued that Neville has been the brand ambassador since 2018 and he was already an established name, associated with the company’s product, and therefore entirely targeting mature audience. ASA even acknowledged that Twitter (now known as X) had received no complaints regarding the ad violating gambling rules.

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