ASA dismisses complaint over Fitzdares Stuart Broad advert

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has cleared Fitzdares of any wrongdoing following an anonymous complaint.

The complaint filed with the ASA featured former England cricketer Stuart Broad via a post on his X account. This set out his partnership with Fitzdares and how the operator was giving him £500 every month to wager and raise money for Motor Neurone Disease.

Broad’s post asked his followers for tips ahead of the new Premier League football season. It was also accompanied by a picture of him playing cricket, as well as the hashtag “Ad”.

The complaint challenged whether the advert included someone who was likely of strong appeal to under-18s. It said this would place Fitzdares in breach of the CAP Code.

Fitzdares denies advert breached regulations

In response, Fitzdares said it conducted a “thorough” risk assessment of Broad against CAP guidance on gambling and lotteries advertising. The operator said it was “satisfied to a high degree” he was not of strong appeal to under-18s.

Detailing its position, Fitzdares set out how Broad retired in 2023 and now mainly appears as a pundit. It said detailed pundit-based cricket discussions are not of strong appeal to children.

Fitzdares also maintained Broad has only appeared “sparingly” in other media, including on talk shows and documentaries.

As for his social media presence, Fitzdares referenced data that shows approximately 7,500 of Broad’s followers across all accounts are registered as under 18 and in the UK. Most of these, it added, were on Instagram, while only 76 of his 1.3 million X followers are under 18 and located in the UK.

Fitzdares added that a large number of his followers on both platforms are in India. This, it said, is due to cricket’s popularity in the country.

ASA sides with Fitzdares

Assessing the case, ASA referred to the CAP Code’s policies on gambling products. The code states these must not be of strong appeal to children or young persons. This includes not featuring people who will likely have young people following them.

According to the code, cricketers can be seen as “high risk” or “low risk” in their appeal to under-18s. This depends on their current role within the sport.

The ASA acknowledged Broad had a successful and high-profile playing career, describing him as one of the “most prominent and well-known people” in cricket. However, since retiring in 2023, his role has been limited to commentating and analysing matches. As such, he is of less appeal to under-18s than current England cricket star players.

As for media appearances, the ASA said Broad does not have a strong presence in the UK. It noted that programmes he appeared on were focused specifically on cricket and not targeted at younger people.

In terms of social media, the ASA took into account the data provided by Fitzdares and his low number of followers under the age of 18. It also noted Broad’s Facebook and YouTube pages have been inactive for several years, and he does not have a TikTok or a Snapchat account.

“Given his low absolute numbers of under-18 UK social media followers, in combination with his limited media profile and because he had retired from playing cricket, we considered Stuart Broad was not likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s,” the ASA said.

The ASA added there was nothing in the way Broad was presented in the ad that would have strongly attracted the attention of under-18s or likely rendered him of strong appeal.

As such, the complaint was rejected and Fitzdares cleared of any wrongdoing.