The ECB has launched discussions with representatives of Brendon McCullum about his involvement with the bookmaker 22Bet after the England head coach appeared in a string of adverts that have caused controversy in his native New Zealand.
Many YouTube users in the country had complained about being bombarded with McCullum’s adverts for the company, until Google pulled them on Tuesday for violating its policies. A spokesperson for New Zealand’s Problem Gambling Foundation called the campaign “the most aggressive marketing I’ve ever seen” while Barbara Edmonds, the minister of internal affairs, promised to “contact 22Bet to communicate our concerns about the misleading nature of their advertising”.
The company’s marketing is claimed to have insinuated that it was registered in New Zealand, when it has its headquarters in Cyprus and is licensed in Curacao.
Under the ECB’s anti-corruption code “participants” are prohibited both from themselves betting on matches and also from “directly or indirectly enticing, persuading, encouraging or facilitating any other party to enter into a bet in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any match or competition”.
“We are currently exploring the matter and in discussions with Brendon around his relationship with the Cypriot-based betting company, 22Bet,” the ECB said in a statement. “We have rules in place around gambling and will always seek to ensure these are followed.” McCullum’s agent, Simon Auteri, confirmed that conversations were ongoing.
New Zealand’s Problem Gambling Foundation had complained to the ECB about the adverts last week. Cameron Rodger, chief commercial officer of New Zealand’s Totalisator Agency Board, commonly known as The Tab, a statutory body that provides betting services in the country, described 22Bet as “parasites that give responsible betting operators a bad name”. Rodger said: “With cowboys like this wading into the New Zealand market, this just emphasises the need for extensive protections for Kiwis who enjoy a bet to make sure they’re betting safely.”
McCullum’s partnership with 22Bet was announced in January, the coach joining the former Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor and the former Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar as a brand ambassador.
At the time the company declared that “McCullum is an iconic figure in the realm of sports and that is what our platform also stands for. He is also a professional who displayed a high degree of professionalism and skill in his game and that is what we also believe in. McCullum is a name that is liked by most of the cricket fans across the globe and India, as a cricket-loving nation, also admire his cricketing skills. This will help us as a legal and a reliable gaming website to elevate our brand presence and to attract more users to this fascinating gaming world.”
