Sky Bet ad banned for 'irresponsible' content

The work featured Jeff Stelling saying: 'How big is your sports noggin?'

Sky Bet ad banned for 'irresponsible' content

A Sky Bet ad has been banned for being irresponsible because it implied that those with a good knowledge of sport were likely to be successful in gambling.

The ad featured Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling, who asked: "How big is your sports noggin?" and said: "Spark your sports brain."

Sky Bet told ad watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority that the references were to do with "knowledge to build a bet using the Sky Bet Request a Bet feature".

The brand also referred to another line in the ad that said: "In sports, anything can happen." This, Sky Bet said, made it clear that there was no guarantee of outcome.

The ASA banned the ad because the ad "placed strong emphasis on the role of sports knowledge in determining betting success".

It added: "We considered that the ad gave an erroneous perception of the extent of a gambler’s control over betting success, by placing undue emphasis on the role of sports knowledge.

"We considered that this gave consumers an unrealistic and exaggerated perception of the level of control they would have over the outcome of a bet and that could lead to irresponsible gambling behaviour."

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