The England and Wales Cricket Board is talking to former Black Caps captain and current England test coach Brendon McCullum over his involvement with betting organisation 22Bet, British media has reported.
Kiwi McCullum joined the company as an ambassador in January and has appeared in advertisements online. This has raised the ire of both the TAB and the Problem Gambling Foundation.
“We are exploring the matter and are in discussions with Brendon around his relationship with 22Bet,” the ECB told the BBC.
“We have rules in place around gambling and will always seek to ensure these are followed.”
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The BBC reported that the ECB had clarified that McCullum was not currently under investigation.
The ECB’s anti-discrimination code says “directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging, facilitating or authorising any other party to enter into a bet in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any match or competition” is an offence.
The code suggests such an offence would carry a minimum one-year period of “ineligibility”.
Stuff
22bet adverts featuring Brendon McCullum.
McCullum hasn’t responded to requests from Stuff to discuss the ad, which Google has reportedly pulled from YouTube for violating their policies.
The advertisements appeared so often for New Zealand users of YouTube – through multiple advertiser accounts – they attracted complaints.
This included angry posts on the Facebook page of McCullum. Among the complaints posted online was Michael Nolan: “Never had such an annoying ad. I’m getting bombarded by them in every corner of the internet.”
The TAB said the advertisements used “dubious tactics to recruit punters”.
McCullum is described as an official ambassador for 22Bet India in the gambling company’s promotional material. Fellow 22Bet ambassadors include former Arsenal and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor (Africa) and former Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar (Latin America).
TOM LEE/STUFF
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum is in New Zealand for the first time as England’s test coach.
McCullum tweeted to his 500,000-plus followers in January promoting 22Bet, but it has since been deleted.
The former New Zealand captain took over as England test coach last year and, in conjunction with captain Ben Stokes, sparked a dramatic upturn in results.
England have won 10 of their past 12 tests, having won only one of the previous 17.