Betfred Tweets with Anthony Joshua Under Fire by the ASA

Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the regulator in charge of advertising across the United Kingdom, strengthened its rules for gambling advertising. Announcing the new stringent measures sought to reduce the possibility of advertisements of gambling products to appeal to underage individuals. At the same time, gambling licensees must adhere to the established rules, ensuring their advertisements do not include individuals that may appeal to audiences under the age of 18.

Now, three posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, caught the attention of the ASA. The posts for Betfred, the leading betting and gaming company, were released ahead of an upcoming fight for Anthony Joshua, the globally recognized boxer star. The posts were released in March and April.

In the first tweet, Joshua is interviewed and talks about his diet ahead of his fight with Jermaine Franklin. Similarly, the second post includes the boxer discussing how he prepares for his fights. Finally, the third tweet included an interview with Joshua who speaks about his mentality when fighting.

Considering the popularity of the boxer, the ASA challenged whether the recently released advertisements complied with the established advertising regulations. Any gambling advertising content that features individuals that might be of strong appeal to audiences under the age of 18 is in breach of the Code, reiterated the Authority.

The ASA Upholds Its Complaint against Betfred

In a response to the ASA, Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd, trading as Betfred, confirmed that they conducted an assessment before featuring Joshua in the aforementioned tweets. The company said that its assessment against the CAP guidelines on gambling advertising found that the boxer was not of strong appeal to individuals under the age of 18.

Moreover, Betfred explained that its campaigns primarily target individuals that are age 25 or older, adding that Joshua was primarily famous for his boxing career which is a sport that appeals to mature audiences.

The company acknowledged that while the boxer has a strong presence across social media, highlighting that 0% of his followers on Facebook, X or TikTok were under the age of 18. Overall, Joshua has more than 29 million followers across the globe. Out of that total, Betfred said, only 3.85% or 1.1 million users are registered under the age of 18. This, according to the company reaffirms that he has an “overwhelming adult following on social media.”

Focusing on the UK, Betfred said that it is believed that Joshua has some 7.2 million followers. Out of that total, the company said, only 280,000 are believed to be under the age of 18 which “was not a significant number of followers in absolute terms.”

Despite the explanation, the ASA upheld its complaint against Betfred’s three promotional tweets. The Authority explained that figures with significant social media presence are likely to be of “moderate risk” of appealing to those under the age of 18. In light of this, the advertising regulator said that the promotional tweets breached three CAP Code rules. Consequently, the ASA said that the ads must not appear in their current form and asked Betfred not to include individuals that may have strong appeal to audiences under the age of 18 in the future.