An online marketing campaign from an off-shore gambling company, which features former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum, has been pulled by YouTube's parent company Google.
The ad called on viewers to sign up for 22Bet, a betting website based in Cyprus. It's currently illegal for overseas bookmakers to advertise in New Zealand.
"Google has strict policies that govern the kind of ads we allow on our platform. In this instance, we’ve found the ads that violate our policies and we have removed them," a Google spokesperson said today.
Google said it allows gambling ads only if they comply with its policies and the advertiser is a state-licensed entity in New Zealand.
Gambling ads must target approved countries, have a landing page that displays information about responsible gambling, and never target minors, according to Google.
The ad had circumvented New Zealand laws prohibiting ads from overseas bookmakers by being on an international site. (Source: 1News)
Background
The ads were reportedly played incessantly on YouTube, with Kiwis taking to social media to complain about the "annoying" and "repetitive" advertisements.
But because YouTube is an international site, the ads slipped through the legal cracks.
It caught the attention of the Problem Gambling Foundation (PGF), which filed a complaint to the Department of Internal Affairs.
Speaking to 1News, PGF spokesperson Andree Froude said she has "serious concerns" about the advertising.
She called it the "most aggressive marketing I've ever seen".
She said that since it's not based in New Zealand, those putting money into the site may be at risk, as it's not regulated here.
Were this ad being played on traditional forms of media, Froude said it would be illegal. The fact that they were on YouTube made things tricky.
"Our concern was the aggressive advertising that happens on YouTube; they're managing to circumnavigate our law by using YouTube, which of course, is an international platform that they can use and appear to be using ghost accounts too."
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