18 October 2023
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Tom RichardsonBBC Newsbeat
A Sky Bet tweet featuring Gary Neville has actually been banned for breaking guidelines on gambling adverts.
The post used an ingrained clip of the ex-footballer predicting Premier League winners on YouTube series The Overlap.
Sky Bet's logo appeared throughout the video, which ended with text mentioning: "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 declined.
The ASA's code states betting adverts ought to not appeal to kids or youths, "specifically by showing or being associated with youth culture".
They state their guidelines are based on the truth that betting is not for under-18s, so adverts on the subject can't be directed at that age group in any way.
'Flawed procedure'
Sky Bet stated The Overlap, sponsored by the business and produced by Neville, was "clearly adult in tone and did not feature any content of a childish nature".
It likewise pointed out 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 six at the time, the business had actually argued.
But the ASA, which imposes UK marketing rules, said it had calculated Neville had 135,000 under-18 fans across Instagram and X, previously known as Twitter.
It acknowledged this was a "little percentage" of his combined following on both, which was 7.1 m when it introduced its investigation in March 2023.
But the authority believed the total number was "considerable" sufficient to conclude the ad was careless.
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The advertisement including Neville was a promoted tweet so the ASA stated SkyBet had actually been told not to release it again.
Its ruling likewise prohibits them from featuring him once again in any media that isn't strictly established to omit under-18s.
It said it had actually told Sky Bet not to consist of anybody with a strong interest under-18s in their future marketing.
The ASA said age figures for Neville's TikTok and Facebook followings were not readily available.
X told the regulator the ad did not breach any of its existing policies and it had actually not received any grievances.
A representative for Sky Bet's moms and dad business Flutter stated: "We essentially disagree with this choice and the problematic process which led to this outcome - it defies both precedent and typical sense.
"The ASA did not receive a single complaint from the public or broader stakeholders about the social networks post in question."
It said it would also look for "an independent review" of the case.
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