Geordie Shore's Sam Gowland breaches advertising rules by promoting betting tip site
Sam Gowland broke UK advertising regulations by irresponsibly claiming that using a bet tipping site was his “best second source of income"
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Sam Gowland breached advertising rules on Instagram, the regulator has found.
The Geordie Shore star, 25, broke UK advertising regulations by claiming on the photo-sharing app that a betting tip service helped him purchase a flashy new car and that using the site was the “best second source of income" he had ever had.
Sam failed to the label the post - that was linked to Thebettingman website - as a marketing advert and irresponsibly promoted gambling as a means of financial security, The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled.
On June 2 the former Love Island personality took to his Instagram Story to pen: "I told use [sic] Thursday night if u wanted to make money the betting man is the way forward for £25! 12 wins out of 14 this weekend and another winner this morning."
He then added: “£450 quid up this weekend and over £1k up for the week! And that’s the reason I tell use [sic] to join.”
The MTV name - who has 1.2 million Instagram followers - then linked his posts to Thebettingman’s website with the words: “£25 to join vip group swipe up to get in the group for tonight’s bets and the rest of the weeks bets.”
Continuing to promote the site he claimed it was “best second source of income I’ve ever had … hence the new car I’m getting … not bad for £25” adding “to join VIP tips group swipe up and watch the profits roll in like the rest of the members”.
In a ruling published on Wednesday, according to Chronicle Live, the ASA found that even though it is not a betting site that by Sam promoting Thebettingman as an easy way to cash in he irresponsibly encouraged gambling.
It also ruled that Newcastle native failed to mark the post with the hashtag #ad, or the hashtags #18+ and #gambleresponsibly.
Sam also breached rules as he was aged 24 at the time of posting the message online.
The UK Gambling Commission rules state that "no-one who is, or seems to be, under 25 years old may be featured gambling or playing a significant role" in marketing communications.
ASA said in its ruling that the posts must be removed in their current form and must be obviously identifiable as ads in future.
According to the outlet, the ASA added: “We told (Thebettingman) to ensure that their ads did not suggest that using betting tipsters was a way of achieving financial security, and not to feature a young person under 25 years of age to promote a gambling advice service.”
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