Overview
Nowadays, there is rarely a shortage of breaking news and rumours related to the Premier League, Football league, and others. You can find plenty of coverage for player transfers and a full account behind each story. But some stories matter more than others, in that they involve political or moral repercussions for the rest of us.
In fact, this post is going to be about one such incident when a reputed player allegedly ended up promoting gambling in a morally grey area. So, read on to learn more about the event and its after effects.
What exactly happened with Wayne Rooney and 32Red?
While currently a football manager, Wayne Rooney is mainly famous for his forward and midfield roles in his past career as an English footballer. But he took his fans, as well as his critics, by surprise in August 2019 when he signed a questionable deal for 32Red, a British online casino firm with a Gibraltar licence.
The story goes something like this. The former England captain transferred to Derby County in exchange for a handsome salary worth nearly £100,000 a week. But part of this amount would be paid by 32Red in exchange for brand promotion. Basically, Rooney would wear the number 32 on his t-shirt. But this would simply highlight the casino brand wholesale to the viewers.
Indeed, shortly after the deal, the ex-captain posed for the club wearing the t-shirt, alongside Phillip Cocu, the manager for Derby County. This ended up causing a stir in the media. The proposed reason was that such a display would send a wrong subliminal message of casino advertising to the masses. In particular, children would be the most vulnerable to the advertisement. Many people even thought that the kids were already spending more time gambling than doing drugs or smoking in the UK.
After the event
Of course, the story has evolved a lot ever since it first came out. Initially, only social media and the press took notice of the incident. But soon afterward, a number of influential people rebuked the event. In particular, the Church of England strongly condemned Rooney’s decision to sign the deal, and so did various healthcare professionals.
The British legislation had left the issue of governing gambling activities mostly to itself. In other words, the gambling companies themselves had to decide what safe gambling policies to adopt, for the most part. While this was all in the spirit of promoting autonomy in the industry, an event like this invited strong criticism from the international community.
Specifically, countries such as Australia, Italy, and Belgium clearly expressed their discomfort over the matter. Studies had already shown the effect of such advertising on the general public. Basically, it promoted irresponsible gambling views and behaviours. Moreover, the casino in question indulged in questionable practices by being easy on a high-roller addict during the year before.
Regrets his decision
Later on, Rooney himself admitted to how stupid one can behave under such circumstances. People tend to be vulnerable with their gambling habits when they have to fend for themselves under a lack of the right supervision. By the way, that is also why all responsible gambling companies nowadays include some kind of self-exclusion and loss/wager limiting provisions on their website.
The above dubious behaviour of Rooney, combined with the one on part of the gambling company itself, paints a good picture of what went so wrong with the incident. Apparently, there was a serious moral compromise in order, besides an obvious conflict of interest. It was no wonder, therefore, that the two ended up receiving so much blame in the aftermath of the unwelcome deal.
Verdict
By this time, the story may have more or less faded away from the public view. After all, such incidents may be rather common for all you know. For instance, during the 2019-20 season itself, almost half of all the Premier League’s teams were set to display various gambling brand logos on their t-shirts. And things haven’t changed any for the better since then.
But the message these sorts of events deliver couldn’t be any clearer for the public. In this day of clickbait advertising, it is even more important to fend for oneself, especially over matters such as gambling. As always, start by choosing a casino with safe and morally sound gambling practices. Try to avoid non gamstop casinos and practice responsible gambling. By all means, have fun, but stay safe.
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