Footballer Wayne Rooney has starred in a new responsible gambling campaign by 32Red.
The Derby County footballer has appeared in a new responsible gambling campaign by Derby gambling sponsor 32Red. The gambling firm’s campaign reportedly aims to encourage responsible gambling within the United Kindom and help players make more sensible choices when gambling.
Appearing in a minute-long video with boxer Carl Frampton and jockey Paddy Brennan, Rooney says to the camera: “Do you gamble responsibly?” before encouraging players to “set limits on your play” and “how long you play for”. The video also encourages players to take breaks from gambling if it becomes stressful.
The video, which you can watch below, was released by 32Red as part of their new responsible gambling campaign. The online casino operator states that it’s always been committed to responsible gambling and hopes its new campaign and video will reiterate that commitment.
Neil Branbury, the Managing Director at 32Red, told the Mirror that it was essential to have someone as well-known as Rooney to spreadhead the new campaign and star in the video, hoping that the footballer’s participation would help get the important message across.
He said: “For most people, football is the main passion point. That gives us an opportunity to connect with that audience. If it’s Wayne talking in the video and he also pushes it out through his channels, that reaches far more people and they’re more likely to listen, than if it was just a TV ad with a voiceover.”
“One of the things we’ve worked on with Derby and invested in is a scheme in their community, which is called Team Talk, a space where men with mild mental health issues can go. There’s a games room, where they can play pool and FIFA, and of course there’s the other, more serious, discussion aspect on the back of it.
“That was already in place in Derby and we helped them scale it up to reach more people. When Frank Lampard was Derby manager, he went along to sessions and it helped raise the profile. Wayne visited there at Christmas and, when you get people like Frank and Wayne involved, it’s such a big enabler for people to be able to see they can talk about things and not keep them bottled up.”
He continued: “Whatever the message is, whether it’s mental health-related or about healthier gambling behaviour, it comes across much better when you’ve got big names involved. From our perspective, it’s something we put right at the heart of our business model and the way we operate.
“Obviously, a lot of the debate focuses on the negative side of the gambling industry and we’re just trying to make sure that our way of working with the football clubs we sponsor, and any messages we promote through that, associate our brand with healthy gambling behaviour.”
He ended the statement by saying: “Public opinion goes through peaks and troughs, but gambling has obviously had it’s fair share of negative stories, a lot of that far, although not all of it. But the industry has been on the end of a decline in trust. Plenty of politicians want to see changes, and I think operators are recognising more and more that if we can be more on the front foot, take more responsibility for what we’re doing and how we do it, then hopefully we can also have more of a say in how things evolve.”
You can watch the campaign video below:
