Sky Bet's Ad Featuring Gary Neville Breaches ASA Guidelines for Appealing to Under-18s

In a Twitter promotion on February 9, the ad showcased an embedded video clip from The Overlap football podcast, wherein Neville discussed his Premier League winner predictions. During the video, the Sky Bet logo made intermittent appearances, and the text at the end indicated that it was "Brought to you by Sky Bet," followed by the GambleAware logo.

In response to the ASA's concerns, Sky Bet contended that Gary Neville did not exert a strong appeal to individuals under 18. The bookmaker explained that The Overlap podcast primarily involves discussions on football, featuring personalities from sports, politics, and business, with no content geared towards children. Moreover, Sky Bet pointed out that only 1.2% of The Overlap's audience falls within the 13 to 17 age range, and for the episode featuring Neville, this number dropped to 0.5%.

Sky Bet further argued that Neville could be considered "long-retired," aligning with the CAP guidance's definition, and his prominence as a football pundit, political commentator, and businessman makes him unlikely to appeal to under-18s. The operator emphasized Neville's role as a brand ambassador for Sky Bet since 2018 and his strong association with their products. Sky Bet also noted that they had not received any complaints regarding the advertisement.

However, the ASA opted to uphold its challenge against the tweet. While recognizing that the ad's target audience was primarily individuals over 25, the ASA pointed out that it was published on a platform requiring users to verify their age, making it impossible to completely exclude under-18s.

The ASA referred to the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code), which categorizes retired footballers transitioning into punditry as "moderate risk" in terms of their appeal to under-18s. During the investigation, the ASA scrutinized Neville's social media profiles, revealing that he had 80,000 followers under 18 on Instagram and 55,000 under-18 followers on Twitter (formerly known as X), totaling 135,000 such followers. Figures for under-18 followers on TikTok and Facebook were unavailable.

The ASA concluded that having over 135,000 under-18 followers on social media represented a significant number, establishing Neville as inherently appealing to under-18s. As a result, the ASA deemed the ad irresponsible and in violation of the code.

Legal expert Felix Faulkner from Poppleston Allen expressed surprise at the ASA's decision but acknowledged that Neville's social media presence played a pivotal role in the ruling. He emphasized that the ad was brought to the ASA's attention through their Active Ad Monitoring system, which employs artificial intelligence to proactively identify online ads that might contravene regulations.

This case underscores the ASA's stringent stance on ensuring gambling operators adhere to rules introduced to limit the use of celebrities in gambling advertising, as seen in previous rulings involving Bet365, William Hill, and Ladbrokes.