As his commercial appearances sparked controversy in New Zealand, the England Cricket Board (ECB) and representatives of England’s red-ball head coach discussed Brendon McCullum’s partnership with bookmaker 22Bet India. The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is investigating possible anti-corruption violations.
The former captain of New Zealand began to appear in online advertisements in January after accepting a position as an ambassador for the betting company “22Bet.”. On March 27, he uploaded a video to his Facebook page to advertise 22Bet’s markets for the Indian Premier League.
Before Google took them down on Tuesday, April 11, for breaking the rules, many social media users, particularly those who use Youtube, had complained about the continuous advertisements featuring McCullum. The association between McCullum and the Cyprus-based corporation was made public six months after he was named England’s red-ball head coach.
“’We are exploring the matter and are in discussions with Brendon around his relationship with 22Bet,” The BBC cited the ECB in its statement.
”We have rules in place around gambling and will always seek to ensure these are followed.” The ECB, however, made it clear that McCullum is not the subject of any ongoing inquiries.
According to the ECB’s anti-corruption regulation, “participants” are not “directly or indirectly enticing, persuading, encouraging or facilitating any other party to enter into a bet in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any match or competition.”
In New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) received a formal complaint from the Problem Gambling Foundation. Concerning the complaint, the DIA eventually disclosed that the advertisements were somewhat deceptive because neither the New Zealand bookmaker nor the New Zealand DIA had any control over them.
McCullum’s association with 22Bet
In January, news of McCullum‘s association with 22Bet surfaced following the selection of former Arsenal football club star Emmanuel Adebayor and former Brazil coach Julio Cesar as the company’s marketing ambassadors.
McCullum and Stokes have pulled a rabbit out of their hats, winning 10 of their last 12 Test matches for an 83.3% winning record. On Friday, June 16, the first Ashes Test is scheduled to start at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
