Sky breaks live football advert ban on opening weekend of action

The new ban on gambling adverts during and immediately before and after live football matches was broken on the first weekend of the new Premier League season.

Sky broadcast a Sky Bet advert in the five-minute cooling-off buffer after last Sunday’s game between Newcastle and Arsenal, and a bet365 advert was shown in the similar pre-match no-go zone before the Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Kilmarnock.

The broadcaster's mistake has been investigated in-house and a Sky spokesman said on Saturday: "We are taking appropriate steps to help ensure this does not happen again and that all adverts are delivered within the new voluntary code during a live broadcast.”

It is understood that unpredictable elements of live sport such as stoppage time and late kick-offs make it particularly difficult to plan advertising breaks.

The self-imposed ban on gambling adverts was announced by the industry group for responsible gambling last December after an outcry about betting adverts during the FIFA World Cup in Russia last year.

The wider audience for the World Cup led to criticism of bookmakers preying on new blood with their barrage of commercials offering live prices and offers.

The leading firms agreed to the self-imposed shutdown which came into force at the start of the Ashes cricket series on August 1.

This put in place no gambling adverts being shown during live sport which takes place before the 9pm watershed, beginning five minutes before the start of the event and lasting until five minutes after its conclusion.

Highlights and re-runs are not exempt from the ruling, while bookmaker sponsorship of pre-watershed sports shows has also been outlawed.

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