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

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Anthony Joshua: Betfred's boxer tweets broke gambling rules, says ASA

1 November 2023

Three tweets by Betfred featuring Anthony Joshua have actually been prohibited for breaching gaming marketing guidelines.

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

It said Joshua was likely to highly appeal to under-18s - which is prohibited by brand-new betting ad guidelines.

Betfred, which declined claims Joshua attracted children, called the decision "unfair" and said it would demand an independent evaluation.

Last year the ASA, which controls advertising in the UK on TV, radio and online, upgraded its rules for promoting gambling., external

The new guidelines specify that business can not appeal to under-18s "by showing or being associated with youth culture".

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

The business had argued boxing is an "adult-orientated sport" since its late-night matches are mainly streamed pay-per-view and can just be bought by over-18s.

It likewise said the 3 tweets weren't advertising however were "editorial" in nature.

the yohaig code bookmakers did admit Joshua is extremely popular across 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 fans were registered as under-18, along with 82,000 of his followers on Snapchat.

the yohaig code watchdog found this to be "a considerable number" suggesting Joshua was "of intrinsic strong appeal" to a young audience.

It informed Betfred the ads "need to not appear again in their existing type" and warned it not to use figures who attract youths in future.

A Betfred representative said the company strongly believed posting the 3 interviews with Joshua "in no method undermined" its commitment to preventing strong youth appeal in its marketing.

"It needs to also be born in mind that the ASA did not get a single problem from a member of the yohaig code general public about our association with Anthony Joshua in this respect," he included.

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

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

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