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 betting adverts.


The post used an ingrained 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 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 betting adverts should not attract kids or youths, "specifically by showing or being associated with youth culture".


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


'Flawed procedure'


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


It also mentioned 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 5 or 6 at the time, the business had actually argued.


But the ASA, which enforces UK marketing guidelines, said it had actually determined Neville had 135,000 under-18 fans across Instagram and X, formerly called Twitter.


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


But the authority believed the overall number was "substantial" sufficient to conclude the advertisement was reckless.


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


Its ruling also prohibits them from featuring him again in any media that isn't strictly set up to leave out under-18s.


It said it had actually Bet not to include anyone 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 informed the regulator the ad did not breach any of its present policies and it had not gotten any complaints.


A representative for Sky Bet's parent company Flutter stated: "We fundamentally disagree with this choice and the problematic process which caused this outcome - it defies both precedent and sound judgment.


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


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


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