Pietersen won't push gambling brand during England coaching spells
Kevin Pietersen has told the ECB he will keep his new gambling sponsorship separate from his England white-ball coaching duties, under a code that bars participants from encouraging betting on matches.
Kevin Pietersen has assured the England and Wales Cricket Board that he will keep his new gambling sponsorship separate from his work as England's specialist white-ball batting mentor, according to the Guardian.
Pietersen signed this week as a brand ambassador for the Philippines-based operator Dafabet, a deal the Guardian describes as lucrative. He is contracted to work with Brendon McCullum's white-ball squad for roughly 150 days across the next 13 months, through to the conclusion of the 50-over World Cup, which South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia are due to co-host.
The arrangement sits awkwardly alongside the ECB's anti-corruption code, which prohibits anyone involved in the sport from soliciting, encouraging or facilitating bets on the outcome or conduct of any match or competition. The governing body does not accept advertising money from gambling firms, is withdrawing permission for Hundred franchises to carry betting sponsorship from next year, and requires any county that does take gambling-linked income to show the money funds infrastructure or community schemes rather than general revenue.
Players themselves are barred from betting on cricket under the same code. That rule produced a 16-month ban, 13 months of it suspended, for the England fast bowler Brydon Carse two years ago, after he was found to have placed 303 bets between 2017 and 2019.
Pietersen is not part of the England squad travelling to Pakistan for next week's 50-over tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but he is set to be involved for the winter tours of Australia and South Africa and for England's full programme of domestic white-ball cricket next summer as the squad builds towards the World Cup. Given how much of the next year he will spend on England duty, the Guardian notes that the restriction on promoting Dafabet while working for the team will bite heavily into the scope of his sponsorship role.
The ECB has faced a comparable issue before. McCullum, while still England's Test coach, became an ambassador for the Cyprus-based operator 22bet three years ago and subsequently used Facebook and YouTube to highlight its markets on the Indian Premier League. The board found no breach of its anti-corruption rules, but McCullum ended the arrangement regardless.
One distinction between the two cases is regulatory status: 22bet operates under an offshore licence issued in Curaçao, whereas Dafabet holds a licence to operate in Britain.