England‘s Test head coach and former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has landed himself in big trouble after featuring in a gambling advertisement. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has issued a statement in which they said that they are ‘exploring’ McCullum’s relationship with the online bookmaker site.
The controversy erupted after numerous New Zealand YouTube users complained about getting too many ads of McCullum endorsing a bookmaker company, “22Bet India”. While a spokesperson for New Zealand’s Problem Gambling Foundation called the campaign “the most aggressive marketing I’ve ever seen”, New Zealand’s minister of internal affairs, Barbara Edmonds, assured to “contact 22Bet to communicate our concerns about the misleading nature of their advertising”. Soon the advertisement was taken down by Google as it violated its policies.
On the other hand, the English cricket board also announced a probe into the matter to check if McCullum has breached their anti-corruption code.
“We are currently exploring the matter, and [are] in discussions with Brendon around his relationship with the Cypriot-based betting company, 22Bet. We have rules in place around gambling, and will always seek to ensure these are followed.” the ECB said in a statement.
Notably, the anti-corruption code of ECB reads: “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.”
McCullum signed the deal with a bookmaker company in November 2022 and also shared videos promoting it on his social media. In the most recent advert posted by him on Facebook, the Kiwi cricketer can be heard saying: “The IPL is coming, and I think all cricket fans are excited for this big event. My friends at 22Bet are ready to make your IPL experience even more fascinating. 22Bet India guarantees the best odds.”
Following the controversy, McCullum’s agent Simon Auteri told the Times newspaper in a statement: “We are speaking to the ECB about this. I am not going to comment on anything. We are working through it.”
