BOLT’S ‘DANGEROUS’ ONLINE CASINO GAME
Sprinter under fire for using Olympics to boost sales
USAIN Bolt has been accused of ‘plumbing new depths’ with an online game designed to cash in on his fame and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The world’s fastest man has developed ‘Usain Bolt: The Slot Game’, and attended the gambling industry’s annual showcase in London to launch it last week.
In a video to his 14million fans on Twitter and Instagram the Jamaican star told fans he had ‘always been a gamer myself and sports themed games have always been number one on my list’.
But gambling campaigners say his deal with an online company ‘will do great harm to the children and adults who look up to him’.
At the conference Bolt said the firm launching the game, Ganapati, majority- owned by a shell company in the British Virgin Islands, was a ‘wonderful brand’.
Although he retired in 2017, the record-breaking sprinter will be ‘the face’ of this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and hopes that his profile will boost sales of the game.
Bolt has made more than £60million from deals with brands including Gatorade, Paypal and Virgin, but yesterday campaigners and MPs warned that his latest venture put his fans at risk. The
Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, who speaks for the Church of England on gambling matters, said: ‘To hear that Usain Bolt, a sporting inspiration, is putting his name on an electronic slot game is disappointing and worrying.
Every time he appears on TV during the Olympics he will represent a brand identified with a gambling product which should be strictly for adults.
‘I hope Usain recognises that this deal will do great harm to his personal reputation and to the image of athletics as a whole.’
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling, said: ‘This is a wrong move for Usain Bolt. Promotions like this are used to extract money and lure young people into gambling habits.
‘It is also wholly cynical to use the Olympics to promote this game, and it will end up damaging the young lives. I would urge him to look at the evidence and think again whether he wants to lend his name to this product.’
Liz Ritchie, of charity Gambling with Lives, set up by families affected by gambling-related suicide, said: ‘A dangerous addictive form of gambling is being associated with the most important sporting event in the world and promoted by a sporting legend to vulnerable young people and children.
‘This plumbs new depths in celebrity promotion. Many who see this will be addicted and some will die – gambling addiction is highly correlated with suicide.’
The former sprinter, 33, is the latest high-profile sports star to sign a lucrative deal with a gambling company. Heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua is an ambassador for bookmaker William Hill, while BBC football pundits Alan Shearer, Robbie Savage and Jermain Defoe have taken money to promote gambling firms.
Wayne Rooney was accused of ‘selling his soul’ in a £7.8million tie-up with online casino 32Red, which sees him wear the number 32 shirt for Derby County.
On Wednesday, in a speech at
the ICE London gambling conference, Ganapati boss Juliet Adelstein said: ‘The timing couldn’t be better, with Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympics – and Usain Bolt is basically the face of it. It’s so exciting to have him working side by side with us.’
The game will be launched by Ganapati Group, a UK-based firm with operations in six countries. It is majority-owned by HLMS Inc, a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands, a secretive tax haven, according to UK filings. Its clients include Betsson, Sweden’s largest gaming company, and Dafabet, which sponsors Fulham FC.
Another is 1XBet, which has been accused of taking bets on children’s sport and streaming cock-fighting.
Bolt and Ganapati, which reported a £33.5million loss in 2019, did not responded to requests for comment.