BBC football idols promote gambling to millions of young World Cup fans
FOOTBALL pundits from the BBC and ITV are using social media to promote gambling to millions of young fans during the World Cup.
Former England internationals, including Alan Shearer and Jermaine Jenas, have been given lucrative contracts to act as ambassadors for various betting companies.
Taking advantage of their exposure to millions of viewers, they share tips and push promotions to their legions of Twitter followers during the tournament in Russia.
The afternoon before the opening ceremony, BBC pundit Shearer had already retweeted two tweets by bookmakers Coral to his nearly 650,000 followers. After signing a year-long deal as an ambassador for the gambling firm, the company’s PR director described Shearer as ‘quite simply the biggest football signing in Coral’s history’.
Meanwhile, fellow BBC pundit Jenas also joined in 24 hours before the tournament began, tweeting a video on behalf of UniBet.
BBC guidelines state that ‘care must be taken’ when promoting alcohol, high interest financial products, or gambling.
As part of an investigation into the extent to which the gambling industry has penetrated the World Cup, the Mail can also reveal:
Young football fans are being barraged by gambling adverts on TV as they get home from school, with a fifth of those shown during ITV’s coverage devoted to betting firms;
Every one of the seven advert breaks between 2.30pm and 6pm – peak watching times for children – during the tournament’s opening game featured at least one gambling advert, with nine shown in total;
Campaigners warn that betting advertising during sporting events has reached a ‘tipping point’ and the UK is at risk of ‘normalising gambling for children’;
MPs and the Local Government Association called for ‘tighter restrictions’ on gambling advertising – particularly where children were being tempted by free bets.
The number of TV gambling adverts has surged since 2007, when Tony Blair’s Labour government eased restrictions on high street and online betting firms. Gambling firms are able to use a loophole that lets them advertise before the 9pm watershed if it is during a live televised sporting event.
Studies show youngsters are extremely susceptible to advertising, and more vulnerable to gambling addiction than adults.
With about 25,000 problem gamblers aged between 11 and 16, the Gambling Commission warned last year that Britain was ‘sleepwalking into a future public health storm’.
Labour MP Jo Stevens, a member of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, said: ‘All eyes are on the World Cup right now – and so far you can’t seem to escape the gambling advertising. It’s saturating every aspect of the game. We know there is a proven link between gambling advertising and rising problem gambling and addiction.
‘That’s why the Government must look at tighter restrictions on gambling adverts, particularly where children are being exposed to the lure of free bets online.’
Despite previous warnings, several pundits took to social media to tweet links to various betting sites.
BBC pundit Robbie Savage, 43, helped to promote bookmakers William Hill to his 1.8 million Twitter followers. In the three days before the start of the World Cup, he retweeted daily promotional adverts that attempted to draw gamblers to the company’s website.
A spokesman for the BBC said: ‘Our freelance broadcasters adhere to our guidelines while working in a BBC capacity. Their social media accounts are not BBC accounts and they do not promote their other commitments on air.’
Over on ITV, pundits were also making the most of their exposure during the World Cup to promote betting companies.
Former England and Arsenal player Lee Dixon signed a deal with Ladbrokes to become their ‘leading World Cup ambassador’ this month. The day before the opening ceremony, he retweeted two videos in quick succession from the Ladbrokes account to his nearly 500,000 followers. A spokesman for ITV said promotional work by pundits was separate to their work for the broadcaster.
ITV also came under fire yesterday for the number of gambling adverts it is showing during the tournament.
Despite the opening match not starting until 4pm, adverts for betting companies were broadcast more than an hour beforehand.
Over three and a half hours of broadcasting before and during the opening match on Thursday, ITV broadcast 45 adverts for alcohol, car, and shampoo companies. But by far the highest number of adverts – nine – were devoted to gambling.
Campaigners have expressed their concern that a vast majority of those watching the ads will be children. With 12 group games scheduled to take place between 3pm and 7pm on weekdays, the reach betting firms have into family viewing times is substantial.
Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, director of the Central and NorthWest London NHS Trust’s National Problem Gambling Clinic, said: ‘No child should be subjected to gambling advertising while watching a game of football.
‘It is our duty to ensure that financial gain does not prevail over the need to protect our young.’
Marc Etches, chief executive of GambleAware, said: ‘Many children and their families will tune in
‘Future public health storm’
‘Can’t escape the advertising’
to enjoy the World Cup this summer, but will also be exposed to numerous gambling adverts.
‘Gambling advertising during sport has reached a tipping point and we run the risk of normalising gambling for children.’
ITV said: ‘The ads shown during our World Cup coverage are compliant with both the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising’s rules on the content and scheduling of gambling advertising, and the gambling industry’s own set of regulations (the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling Code) to protect viewers, particularly children.
‘ITV takes it responsibilities to viewers very seriously and our compliance with all advertising codes relating to gambling is comprehensively accurate.’
The Advertising Standards Authority said it did not have any control over the amount of gambling advertisements shown during a live televised event. Instead, the regulatory body is only able to monitor the content of the advertisements.
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