World-class footballer advertises illegal online casino

These days, world-class footballer Alisha Lehmann is being publicly criticised. The 25-year-old is currently advertising an illegal online casino on Instagram. The reach of almost 17 million followers is likely to contribute to the fact that many underage fans are also confronted with the gambling provider. So is such a partnership morally okay?

Professional footballer Alisha Lehmann has been the official ambassador of online gambling provider Boomerang-bet since 1 August this year. This is a provider that does not have a valid gambling licence either in Switzerland, where Lehmann lives, or in Germany. In Switzerland, the provider is even on the official blacklist. Nevertheless, the attractive 25-year-old footballer openly advertises the illegal online casino. She has come in for a lot of criticism for this, especially in recent weeks.

Lehmann on illegal online casino: ‘You can do it like me!’

On 12 October, the Swiss player posted a video on her official Instagram channel in which she plays at Boomerang-bet. Here, the world-class footballer encourages her community to try it for themselves at the online casino. In the video, Lehmann claims that she herself has won 73,000 francs and that anyone can do it.

So far, around 45,000 of her followers have liked the gambling advert video. By comparison, most of her other pictures and videos are liked between 200,000 and 1.5 million times. In the comments, many of her fans are disappointed that she is promoting an illegal online casino as a sporting role model.

You can find the video in question on her official Instagram channel here.

The 25-year-old has almost 16.9 million followers on Instagram alone. These naturally include many minors, who are of course shown her gambling post, as well as fans of hers who may already have problematic or even pathological gambling behaviour. It was only in June last year that we at GambleJoe reported that influencers are no longer allowed to advertise sports betting in France.

Swiss Football Association not happy about gambling sponsorship

The Swiss Football Association commented succinctly on Lehmann's gambling advertising video, stating that Lehmann was advertising as a private individual in this case. The football association obviously wants to distance itself from the world-class footballer's new advertising partner. However, the association's problem is probably that Lehmann is one of the top female footballers in the world and is also, to a certain extent, the figurehead of the European Women's Championship, which will take place in Switzerland next year.

It is interesting to note that professional athletes themselves are generally more susceptible to problematic gambling behaviour than ‘normal’ fans. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that athletes have hardly any structure in their lives outside of their profession and also have both time and a lot of money.

Which online casino does Alisha Lehmann promote?

Alisha Lehmann has not yet commented on the criticism regarding her new advertising partner. The video in which she plays Boomerang-bet at the online casino and claims to have won tens of thousands of francs is still online today.

The online casino is also the official partner of AC Milan. In Switzerland, however, the provider is also on a federal blacklist and is therefore considered an illegal online casino. Boomerang-bet is also not legal in Germany, as it does not have a gambling licence from the Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL). Instead, the online casino holds a Kahnawake licence.

Image source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA_i0KENU_N/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=2a1db45b-9aef-4008-a82c-77cba978b316 (offizieller Instagram-Post von Alisha Lehmann)