Anthony Joshua: Betfred's Boxer Tweets Broke Gambling Rules, Says ASA

Anthony Joshua: Betfred's boxer tweets broke gambling guidelines, states ASA

1 November 2023

ByRiyah Collins
BBC Newsbeat

Three tweets by Betfred including Anthony Joshua have actually been prohibited for breaching gambling marketing rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) examined the posts shared in March and April promoting a fight.

It said Joshua was likely to strongly attract under-18s - which is prohibited by brand-new betting advertisement guidelines.

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Betfred, which rejected claims Joshua interested children, called the choice "unjust" and said it would demand an independent review.

In 2015 the ASA, which controls advertising in the UK on TV, radio and online, updated its rules for promoting gambling., external

The brand-new standards state that business can not interest under-18s "by reflecting or being connected with youth culture".

Betfred's tweets featured videos of Joshua discussing his diet plan, his preparation regular and his pre-fight mentality before his bout with Jermaine Franklin.

The business had actually argued boxing is an "adult-orientated sport" due to the fact that its late-night matches are mainly streamed pay-per-view and can only be purchased by over-18s.

It also said the 3 tweets weren't marketing however were "editorial" in nature.

The bookmakers did admit Joshua is extremely popular throughout social networks, with 29.3 m followers worldwide, but argued they were "extremely adult".

However, the ASA found about a countless Joshua's 15.7 m Instagram followers were signed up as under-18, in addition to 82,000 of his fans on Snapchat.

The guard dog discovered this promotion code to be "a substantial number" indicating Joshua was "of fundamental strong appeal" to a young audience.

It informed Betfred the ads "should not appear once again in their current kind" and warned it not to utilize figures who appeal to youths in future.

A Betfred spokesman stated the business firmly thought publishing the yohaig code three interviews with Joshua "in no other way weakened" its dedication to avoiding strong youth appeal in its marketing.

"It should likewise be remembered that the ASA did not receive a single problem from a member of the general public about our association with Anthony Joshua in this promotion code regard," he included.

Sky Bet recently had a tweet featuring Gary Neville banned for breaching the exact same guidelines.

Even though Neville's footballing career ended in 2011, the ASA found he too was likely to have a strong appeal to under-18s - something Sky Bet disagreed with.

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