Next Thursday, June 30, a sad day for fans of the many former professional football players who can be seen in countless online gambling advertisements. From this day it is forbidden for gambling companies to use role models in their commercials, which means that BetCity Will have to say goodbye to ambassadors Wesley Sneijder, Andy van der Meijde, Wim Kieft and Sjaak Swart. Fortunately, the gambling site has already found a solution for this: the super fans.
A subject of many discussions
Earlier this week, BetCity announced that the departure of the four ex-top football players will be filled by the introduction of Superfans Lesley, Randy and Japie who from 30 June in the commercials of the online Casino can be seen. Since the legalization of the Dutch Online Gaming Market on Bonus up to $250, gambling advertisements have already been a subject of many discussions. Opponents of this found that too many advertisements were broadcast and that they would also focus on vulnerable target groups.
This was soon arrested by the Minister for Legal Protection, Franc Weerwind, who already made the promise when he was appointed to focus on a ban that should put an end to this. It turned out that this was not as simple as the minister had initially expected, and that it could certainly take another year before the new law would have been completed.
Prohibition of role models in gambling advertisements
However, it would be possible for Weerwind to prohibit the use of role models in gambling advertisements in the short term, since Fast payoutnew law was needed for this. This could already be achieved with a change in the recruitment, advertising and addiction prevention scheme.
The content of the change of rule was therefore announced in May 2022, in which the concept of role model was described as follows:
- persons who derive their fame from activities in the presint or the past as:
- Professional athlete, sports trainer or another person with a publicly visible role within professional sport.
And so from Thursday 30 June the use of former professional football players in gok advertisements will be one thing of the past. This is something that Betcity.nl has done several times since its launch together with the opening of the Dutch Legal Online Gaming Market. For example, former King Toto Andy van der Meijde became the head of ambassador and in April 2022 he was succeeded by Toto transfers Wesley Sneijder, Sjaak Swart and Wim Kieft.
The three super fans
The familiar faces of Van der Meijde, Sneijder, Kieft and Swart will be exchanged for a new three next Thursday. Earlier this week BetCity introduced the three Superfans Randy, Lesley, and Japie who will become the new ambassadors of the Online Casino. The super fans can also be seen in a brand new advertisement, which Betcity itself described as follows:
“Lesley - after a less successful football career - has remained a good time and lives in a neat terraced house (in contrast to Wesley that was picked up for a fairly spacious villa). Randy, who is known for his witty social media, picks up his old friend Lesley in his solid Hyundai instead of Andy’s BMW. Together the men drive towards Japie. Japie owns Cité Pari (for the smart players: American for BetCity) and recently had someone in the store who predicted 4-0. Who was that again? "
View the new advertisement from BetCity below, which will soon also be broadcast on television: