In the high-stakes world of soccer it’s not often a halftime celebration makes it to full-time controversy. But Sgwili Gumede — an outspoken sports business expert — has blown the whistle on a “dangerous blurring of lines” between fair play and foul advertising.
At the heart of the drama is a 30-second TV advert from Sportingbet South Africa promoting their “2Up” feature — a betting product that pays out in full if your team takes a two-goal lead by halftime. The visual kicker to illustrate the offering shows a jubilant team, clad in Sportingbet-branded kit, celebrating midmatch as if they’ve won the trophy.
The directorate of the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) initially dismissed Gumede’s complaint that it was misleading and supported unlawful activity.
Disappointed but undaunted, he took the matter on appeal — and on the second try the full-time whistle blew in his favour.
“I feel a bit sad that it’s come down to this. I work with parties in the industry and some are my clients. But I have strong views on what’s ethically right, and this advert is unflattering to sport and crosses the line,” he told the Sunday Times.
Gumede said the commercial raised serious issues about the ethics of promoting betting, trivialising the game by showing players celebrating halfway through a match — something he said was ethically and legally prohibited.
He said the advert could mislead viewers — particularly young and vulnerable ones — on the boundaries between sports and betting, making it look extremely easy, appealing and without harm.
Sportingbet responded to the complaint, arguing the depiction of football players celebrating was dramatised and a symbolic representation — not showing, implying or encouraging any involvement of players in betting activities.
The company said the advert did not suggest players and officials were participating in any form of gambling that contravened legal and ethical standards, and it aligned with their responsibility to promote responsible betting practices.
“The aim of the advertisement is to promote the 2Up betting feature, which will enable betters to be paid out in full if their team goes two goals up at halftime. It was created with a high degree of creative license, intending to depict celebrating the outcome of a match early.
“The depiction of players celebrating is not intended to be taken literally but as a metaphorical representation of joy and excitement betters may feel when their team leads by two goals, aligning with the feature of 2Up,” Sportingbet argued.
The directorate agreed the advert did not contravene relevant clauses of the Advertising Code. The decision upset Gumede.
“There is growing discontent about gambling advertising and sport. In the UK there are no front-of-shirt sponsorships, no whistle-to-whistle advertising allowed and the use of players in advertising is highly regulated,” he said.
“Here we have been slower to modify, and my distress is over how gambling and sport are intersecting. I know sport must take gambling advertising because gambling makes a lot of money from sport, so there should be a managed partnership.
“But not this kind of reckless depiction of players betting on events in which they are involved,” Gumede said, explaining why he took his complaint on appeal.
The appeal panel made a different finding to the ARB directorate.
Gail Schimmel, CEO of the ARB, said cases where the directorate and appeal committee had different views showed “the advertising and marketing industry ... has a low tolerance for any grey areas when it comes to issues about gambling and sports betting”.
This was something the industry needed to be mindful of with the proliferation of gambling advertising.
“It’s also a good illustration of how one consumer can make a difference,” Schimmel said.
“Had the advertisement depicted supporters celebrating, the outcome of this complaint would have been entirely different. Here we have a team in Sportingbet colours celebrating that they were two goals up ... in circumstances where to do so would be illegal.”
Schimmel said the commercial could no longer be used in its existing format.
“We have shared the outcome with our members, but the first duty lies with Sportingbet to withdraw the commercial.
“Should they fail [to do so], then we will issue an instruction to our members. Sportingbet may also still appeal the decision to the final appeal committee,” she said.
For Gumede, it may be a moral victory, but “there’s no big celebration on my side”.
“As a brand manager I feel sad for Sportingbet because they have to pull their advert. I don’t think they had any evil intentions — they were just reckless. Safa and the PSL, who are the industry regulators, should have been the ones to take this up, not me.”
He said the industry should be doing more to keep the relationship between sport and gambling advertising “platonic”, and manage it responsibly.
“This advert shows just how things can go wrong, and the industry itself needs to be watching for risks and how the sport is seen.”
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