England cricket legend promoted Fitzdares Ltd company with a social media post

Advertising Standards Authority

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have concluded yesterday, 16 April, that a recent social media post by retired England cricketer Stuart Broad did not break their gambling rules. 

The post, which was posted on Broad’s X (formerly Twitter) account, disclosed an advert for Fitzdares – a sports betting company. 

To learn more about responsible gambling, visit our responsible gambling in sports betting page which also offers resources and advice on where to seek help if needed. 

It mentioned a £500 monthly bet pot that is being used to raise funds for a motor neurone disease (MND) charity. Broad asked his followers for any tips for the upcoming Premier League season and ended the post with #Ad.

GambleAware, the industry funded charity that aims to hold gambling companies to account, complained to ASA that it was likely to appeal to those aged under 18 and that it was in-breach of the CAP Code. 

Once accused, Fitzdares provided a detailed response explaining why they felt he didn’t have a strong appeal to under-18s after a lengthy risk assessment. While conducting that research, Fitzdares discovered that Broad had 1.3 million followers on X, with 76 being registered as under 18 and in the UK.

Furthermore, as part of the defence, Fitzdares recognised that Broad retired in 2023 and doesn’t have an account on TikTok or Snapchat – social media platforms that are traditionally popular with youngsters. 

In addition, a high proportion of Broad’s social media followers are in India – mainly due to the popularity of cricket and therefore Broad. As such, ASA and its codes of conduct do not apply to these youngsters. 

In the ASA’s response, they referenced these reasons as to why they dropped the complaint and won’t be taking action against Fitzdares or Stuart Broad. 

“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,” stated ASA. 

In addition, since Broad’s retirement from cricket, his recent media activity has been limited and adult-oriented – including his punditry for the Hundred which ASA felt ‘wouldn’t appeal to under-18s’. 

While he had been a prominent sports figure during his career, his role post-retirement has significantly decreased in visibility and so has his influence over younger audiences.

Therefore ASA concluded that the ad was unlikely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and therefore did not breach rules 16.1, 16.3 or 16.3.12 of the CAP Code. 

No further action will be taken against Broad or Fitzdares, who are likely to continue to use their ambassador to promote their online betting product.