The story of the United Strand has gripped the UK football community in recent weeks. However, what began as a fun dig at the state of Manchester United by fan Frank Ilett has taken a sinister turn through the involvement of Stake.
Like many social media influencers and viral stars, Ilett’s ability to dominate the screens of audiences has piqued the appetite of a black market operator aiming to hijack his rise to accelerate aggressive expansion tactics.
Stake, which any social media user will be familiar with due to its ability to plaster its logo across almost any piece of content, has shot to prominence through guerrilla marketing tactics.
However, the problem is that the company remains largely unlicensed in many countries where Ilet’s content will be viewed. In the case of the UK, Stake left the country after a previous controversial stunt with the infamous adult film star Bonnie Blue.
Last Tuesday, Stake gained visibility to hundreds of thousands of viewers during a stream of Ilet watching his side draw 1-1 with West Ham – a win would have brought to an end his pledge not to cut his hair until Manchester United win five games.
Many of the viewers of the stream will have been young, impressionable teenagers who will have no idea of Stake’s licence situation.
The UK Gambling Commission has already outlined how a portion of black market players have no idea they have strayed away from the regulated market, and given Stake’s presence across social media, it is hard for players to distinguish them as being on the black market.
Yet, the nature of the marketing ecosystem in the UK means that the regulator has been rendered somewhat powerless in a pivotal fight.
While advertising restrictions are ratcheting up on the regulated sector, the black market can carry on its merry way, infiltrating the social media zeitgeist and preying on unsuspecting users at will.
In October, Flutter hit out at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after the advertising watchdog upheld a complaint related to the use of a clip from the Overlap podcast, accusing the advertising watchdog of bowing to anti-gambling lobbies while the black market “floods the internet and social media without checks”.
You can’t help but feel that the company was right to vent its frustrations.
Organisations like the ASA and UKGC are willing to place the tiniest details of advertising related to the regulated sector under the microscope, but there is very little the organisations can do to curtail black market advertising.
Words from the UKGC’s Executive Director, Tim Miller, lambasting Meta for the proliferation of unregulated casino websites across its platforms are all well and good, but what more can be done?
Actions speak louder than words, as the phrase goes, and there has been very little action so far.
The Betting and Gaming Council’s CEO, Grainne Hurst, recently called for a “serious approach to advertising” led by a focus on curtailing the black market, and it’s clear that the UKGC could and should do much more to work with the relevant authorities to implement strategies to fight against black market advertising.
The sad reality now is that it is almost inevitable that any individual who rises to prominence through social media will eventually end up linking with a gambling or crypto sponsorship.
Later in the same week, another TikTok Star, Cal the Dragon, who rose to fame in lockdown for playing football in his garden, shared a promotional video shot at Birmingham City’s training ground in conjunction with Duelbits – the Championship club’s Asian betting partner, which states on its social media accounts that it is not available in the UK or US.
While the ASA was busy nitpicking Sky Bet, the body is powerless to stop this kind of advertising, which is much more likely to catch the attention of a younger audience and place a spotlight on a product that the majority of Cal the Dragon’s audience will not be able to legally engage with due to their location.
If the UK gambling industry is serious about tackling black market advertising, much more should be done to ensure that influencers like Ilet and Cal the Dragon aren’t allowed to give brands like Stake and Duelbits unfettered access to their fans.
