ASA overturns Sky Bet advert ruling

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has reversed its ruling against a Sky Bet TV advertisement aired on August 30th 2018. 

The advert featured Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling saying: “Forget ‘anything can happen’, in sport anything does happen. But could it be better? With Request a Bet it could. 

“Spark your sports brain and roll all the possibilities into one bet. Three red cards, seven corners, five goals: let’s price that up. 

“Or browse hundreds of request a bets on our app. The possibilities are humongous. How big is your sports noggin? Sky Bet, Britain’s most popular online bookmaker. When the fun stops, stop.”

The advert prompted two formal complaints and the ASA originally deemed it as ‘socially irresponsible’ and implied that a person with a knowledge of sports was likely to experience gambling success.

However, the ASA has overturned the ruling claiming that, upon further investigation, the advert did not breach regulations, meaning the complaint is now ‘not upheld’. 

Clearcast, the organisation which pre-approves most British television adverts, said the advert focused on the excitement and possibilities for sportsbook fans, rather than the possibility of winning or outcome of the wager. 

In response to the advert, the ASA ruled that: “The ad focused on the features of the particular betting service being promoted and we did not consider that it irresponsibly exaggerated the role which sports knowledge played in achieving betting success. 

“The phrase “in sport anything does happen” explicitly recognised the uncertain nature of sporting outcomes. We therefore concluded that the ad was not socially irresponsible and did not breach the Code. We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 17.3 and 17.3.1 (Gambling), but did not find it in breach.”