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

Anthony Joshua: Betfred's fighter tweets broke betting guidelines, states ASA

1 November 2023

ByRiyah Collins
BBC Newsbeat

Three tweets by Betfred featuring Anthony Joshua have been banned for breaching gaming advertising guidelines.

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

It said Joshua was likely to highly interest under-18s - which is forbidden by new betting advertisement rules.

Betfred, which declined claims Joshua attracted children, called the choice "unjust" and stated it would require an independent evaluation.

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

The new guidelines state that companies can not interest under-18s "by showing or being related to youth culture".

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

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

It also stated the three tweets weren't marketing but were "editorial" in nature.

The bookies did confess Joshua is hugely popular throughout social media, with 29.3 m followers worldwide, however argued they were "extremely adult".

However, the ASA found about a million of Joshua's 15.7 m Instagram followers were signed up as under-18, along with 82,000 of his followers on Snapchat.

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

It informed Betfred the advertisements "should not appear once again in their current kind" and alerted it not to use figures who attract young individuals in future.

A Betfred spokesperson said the yohaig code company securely believed publishing the three interviews with Joshua "in no method weakened" its dedication to preventing strong youth appeal in its marketing.

"It must also be kept in mind that the ASA did not receive a single complaint from a member of the general public about our association with Anthony Joshua in this regard," he included.

Sky Bet recently had a tweet featuring Gary Neville prohibited for breaching the same rules.

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

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