Betfred boxing tweets prohibited by ASA

[The Buzz]

Three Betfred tweets featuring boxer Anthony Joshua have been prohibited due to their violation of gambling advertising regulations.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) conducted an investigation into the tweets, which were shared in March and April to promote a fight. The ASA determined that the content was likely to have a strong appeal to individuals under the age of 18, which is prohibited under the new gambling advertising rules.

The tweets in question:

a. The first tweet featured a video of boxer Anthony Joshua being interviewed by commentator Dom McGuinness about his diet ahead of his fight against Jermaine Franklin. Text on the post stated, “How does @anthonyjoshua stay in shape? A diet consisting of bananas with rice & ketchup with sweetcorn. How does @ant_crolla stay in shape? Guinness. Hear from @EddieHearn and @JermaineFrankl6 too on the Lightweight Boxing Show. #JoshuaFranklin @MatchroomBoxing”.

b. The second tweet featured a video of Anthony Joshua being interviewed by Dom McGuinness about how he prepared for fights. Text on the post stated, “I think it's a good fight for me to test myself". @anthonyjoshua spoke to @DomMcGuinness1 and @ant_crolla ahead of his fight with Jermaine Franklin on Saturday. Watch the Lightweight Boxing Show on YouTube NOW! #JoshuaFranklin @MatchroomBoxing”.

c. The third tweet featured a video of Anthony Joshua being interviewed about his mentality when fighting. Text on the post stated, “‘I'm going in there with pure confidence because I know the work I've done’ There are NO doubts in @AnthonyJoshua's mind ahead of his fight with Jermaine Franklin! Full interview #JoshuaFranklin”.

From the ASA ruling:

The CAP Guidance stated, “a generally high social media following that attracts a significant absolute number of under 18 followers, as determined through quantitative or qualitative analysis, is likely to be considered an indicator of 'strong' appeal”. Although they made up a small proportion of his total followers, we considered that over 1.1 million followers aged under 18 was a significant number in absolute terms. We therefore considered that because he had such large numbers of social media followers who were under 18, Mr Joshua was of inherent strong appeal to under-18s.

The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a Betfred not to include a person or character who had strong appeal to those under 18 years of age in their advertising in future.

Read the entire ruling here: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/petfr...ltar--ltd.html

[universal4]

Based on this, should the NFL and the teams stop answering questions concerning injuries or the health of players? (as well as other leagues)

And all news organizations should also stop reporting on such. The leagues and news or sports organizations have some pretty numbers of followers

that attracts a significant absolute number of under 18 followers,

Plenty of them surround their articles with betting and gambling advertising.

Also at what point do the books themselves need to stop doing injury reports, or talk about a player that gets sick? What about when a player suddenly can not play a game because of any sudden reason? These are things that can materially have an effect on a game or event and high school kids might read the report (because it ranked for their favorite player's name) and then view a bonus offer immediately after reading the story.

The case listed about with the tweets were general reports about health and general well being of the fighters that fans want to read.

Could it possibly affect betting decisions? Yep certainly could.

Could it possibly affect betting decisions of underage bettors? Yep certainly could. But the problem with that has zero to do with the tweet, but how underage bettors access betting products not news stories surrounding the sports.

Rick
Universal4

[Former Member 14]

Reading all of these tweets, I can't understand, what facts would establish these txt's, are prone to, under 18 attraction and influence.

News stories like these, as well as other news, would be read by a wide range of people.

Seems the ASA, just like the UKGC, are both full of shite!