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A complaint against a Fitzdares featuring Stuart Broad, who the complainant argued is a sportsman who was likely to be of “strong appeal” to people under the age of 18, has been overturned.
UK gambling harm treatment charity GambleAware had complained that the ad featuring Stuart Board, a former English cricket player, could have appealed to this age group – which would have been a breach of the Advertising Standards Authority‘s (ASA) Code.
A post on Broad’s X page on 13 August 2024 included a picture of him playing cricket alongside text reading “Delighted to have teamed up with @Fitzdares. They’re an independent operator, build genuine personal relationships with their members & play the game the right way.
“They’ve given me a £500 free bet pot every month to raise cash for Motor Neurone Disease. Let me know if you’ve got any tips for the upcoming PL season!? #Ad”.
Delighted to have teamed up with @Fitzdares 🤝
They’re an independent operator, build genuine personal relationships with their members & play the game the right way.
They’ve given me a £500 free bet pot every month to raise cash for Motor Neurone Disease. Let me know if… pic.twitter.com/Q8V6QHPWpE
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) August 12, 2024
The ASA wrote: “CAP Guidance stated that prominent sportspeople involved in sports like cricket that, at the highest level, had a significant national profile, were of “high risk” of appealing to under-18s, but that sportspeople involved in cricket who didn’t have a significant role in the sport were of “low risk.”
In response to the complaint, Fitzdares assured it had carried out a thorough risk assessment of Stuart Broad against the CAP guidance on gambling and lotteries advertising and was ‘satisfied to a high degree’ that he was not of strong appeal to under-18s.
The 38-year-old played Test cricket for England and One Day & Twenty20 cricket as captain for the national team. He started his professional career in 2006 and retired in 2023. He was awarded an MBE in 2017 and a CBE in 2023.
Commenting on his partnerships, Fitzdares said that Broad predominantly worked with companies in sectors such as finance, insurance and the automotive industry, all of which typically did not appeal to children.
Those partnerships included a well-known, UK-based wine retailer, and an accounting software company.
However, after Fitzdares provided social media data for Broad, it was revealed that around 7,500 followers across all of his accounts were registered as being under the age of 18 and in the UK.
Meanwhile, a large number of his followers on both platforms were based in India, which Fitzdares believed was due to the sport’s popularity in that country.
The ASA continued: “During his prime, he was one of the most prominent and well-known sportspeople involved in cricket. However, since his retirement, his role in the sport had been limited to commentating and analysing matches.
“We therefore considered that since his retirement, his role in the sport had been significantly reduced, and that he was less likely to be of appeal to under-18s than current England cricket star players.
“Lastly, we considered that there was nothing in the way Stuart Broad was presented in the ad that would have strongly attracted the attention of under-18s or was likely to render him of strong appeal. For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was not of strong appeal to people aged under 18.”
