Michael Owen, a former striker who played for top Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool has breached UK advertising laws after promoting unlicensed cryptocurrency Punt Casino via his personal Twitter account.
Breached UK Legislation
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) instructed Owen to take down the promotion advertising non-fungible token (NFT), which breached the UK’s rules. Owen sent two tweets in May advertising Punt Casino targeting British bettors, it’s registered in Curacao, and has no UK operating license.Although Punt Casino admits it only holds a license from Curacao it confirmed they do not offer services to countries not allowed by the operating permit.Shortly after the inquiry into Michael Owen’s tweets, they were taken down and the casino blocked to UK punters. The ASA told Owen to remove the tweets promoting the cryptocurrency casino, however, Michael Owen spoke on his partnership with Punt Casino believing in the power of cryptocurrency which felt like a natural thing to do.
Excepts Crypto
Gambling advertisements have been a staple in British football and football players advertising gambling companies is not uncommon. However, Michael Owens’ choice of collaboration has not gone down well, as gambling companies that footballers usually advertise hold a UK Gambling Commission license, Punt Casino accepts various cryptocurrency payment methods, whereas the UK licensed gambling companies do not.Cryptocurrency can be associated with illegal activities and money laundering, although some people now prefer to gamble using Crypto.The ASA explained under UK legislation to offer services to UK customers, operators must have a UKGC license to promote their services. However, some Asian gambling companies do advertise on football shirts in the Chinese language but are not interested in the UK market. They do this by operating under white-label agreements and must abide by UK laws. This practice has raised eyebrows over the past few years as more pressure is piled on operators, but it still remains above the law within the UK.