Tech giant Google has pulled online gambling ads featuring former Black Caps star and current English cricket coach Brendon McCullum from YouTube, 1News is reporting.

The ads for Cyprus-based gambling company 22Bet have been “aggressively marketed” on YouTube over the past month, according to the Problem Gambling Foundation.

Google told 1News the ads violated its policies on gambling, including a requirement advertised services be properly licenced in places they operated.

The Problem Gambling Foundation earlier made a formal complaint to the Department of Internal Affairs over the ad.

The DIA declared that if the advertisements were on a New Zealand-based content provider – as opposed to international platform YouTube – they would be illegal.

Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds today said her department would contact Bet22 and “communicate our concerns about the misleading nature of their advertising”.

The ads depict McCullum in a sports car in the desert, declaring himself the “brand ambassador for 22Bet”.

The complaint from the Problem Gambling Foundation to the DIA said thatMcCullum as the brand ambassador “legitimises and endorses the platform for Kiwi audiences”.

The foundation said most of the YouTube ads are from fake accounts, andare not targeting specific demographics through YouTube user data, but rather are indiscriminately promoted to any user.

“Could you please advise what can be done about this? I understand that it can be a bit of a whack-a-mole when it comes to regulating offshore online gambling operators, but 22Bet seems particularly interested in growing a consumer base in NZ,” the complaint said.

The foundation also contacted the England and Wales Cricket Board, where McCullum is head coach.

The DIA said it is not illegal for a person in New Zealand to gamble with an overseas gambling provider over the internet.

“As 22Bet is conducted overseas, and as YouTube is an international website not specifically hosted within NZ, any advertisements displayed on these platforms would not be prohibited under the Act. If 22Bet was being advertised through an NZ-based content provider, then the advertising would be illegal.”

The DIA said participation in such websites as 22Bet can expose people to potential fraud.

Online gambling sites are generally illegal to operate in New Zealand. However, the Gambling Act 2003 does provide limited exemptions for the New Zealand Racing Board (TAB) and the New Zealand Lotteries Commission.

“22Bet’s current advertising is misleading as they are not a registered New Zealand sports bookmaker, nor are they licensed or regulated in New Zealand by the DIA,” the DIA said.

“We are currently looking at avenues we can pursue, including contacting 22Bet [and] advising them to change … misleading marketing and advertising which insinuates in any way that they are a New Zealand-based gambling operator.”

A review of online gambling began in 2019 in New Zealand and is ongoing.