An unnamed football club has been forced to cancel its plans for public advertising after it was deemed illegal by the Dutch Gaming Authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).
According to the KSA, the plans featured an advert placed on a prominent city building depicting the team’s captain as a tribute.
However, celebrations were abruptly stopped after the authority informed the municipality and the football club in question that a preventive sanction will be imposed on the team if they go ahead with the placement of the ad.
The problem arises from the club’s sponsor, an igaming provider, whose logo is displayed vividly on the club’s jersey. This, according to the regulator, will cause a violation of the country’s gambling act as a form of untargeted advertising for online gambling.
Both the provider and the team have argued that the case falls into the ‘sports sponsorship’ category, where the sponsorship stays as a neutral mention in the background while the full focus is either on a player or their sportswear.
The argument was unfortunately met with disagreement by the KSA, which clarified that the above practice is only viable when a player is presented in a professional setting performing his duties, such as a football player in a sponsored shirt pictured during a match.
Since the player is also well-known, the knockout punch would’ve come from the fact that the advertisement goes against the ban of using role models for gambling advertisements as well.
“Advertising for online gambling in public space is prohibited, because with this form of advertising it is impossible to exclude vulnerable target groups, such as young adults,” the KSA added.
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