Viral Man Utd Haircut Guy Exposes Sponsored Gambling Ad Loophole

Back in January, a study for Fairer Gambling UK exposed a correlation between pirate sports live streams and black market gambling operators. The UK’s gambling watchdog has been actively clamping down on these illegal streams and advertising platforms for unregulated betting sites, but it has still yet to respond with added regulation, a publicly announced investigation, or even a statement to respond to this troubling insight. But even within the context of live streams and unregulated gambling sites, it is not just illegal live streams that they should be concerned with.

The United Strand’s live stream during the West Ham vs Manchester United fixture on Tuesday, February 10, was watched by over 300,000 fans on Kick and YouTube. You may know them better as the “Fan who won’t cut his hair until Manchester United wins 5 games in a row”. Frank Ilett, the influencer who has garnered over 2.3 million followers across Instagram, Twitter, and various other social media channels, was on day no. #493 of not cutting his hair when Man Utd had the opportunity to end the wait and win their 5th game in a row. But it didn’t happen.

In the background of the stream, Ilett placed Stake logo baseball caps to advertise the famous betting site that is unregulated in the UK. He has appeared in Paddy Power ads, and it draws attention to another facet of bookie advertising – how influencer culture can be used to promote books.

The Viral Hair Growing Stunt

The United Strand hair challenge, as it is being referred to now, has become hugely viral. What was seemingly a quick quirk has now turned into a 1.5 year journey for Ilett, who has steadily attracted massive attention within Manchester United’s fan ecosystem, and also from rival fan clubs. The challenge seemed like it would finally end when Manchester United travelled to London to play West Ham, but a 1-1 draw means the wait will continue, and Frank Ilett’s moment in the spotlight will drag on.

It is perfect internet bait, generating countless fan-created memes and banter between the fanbases in Manchester and their biggest rivals. Ilett has become something of a cult mascot – attracting both negative and positive attention. The long running gimmick has branched out into a tagalong reaction stream, appearances in gambling ads, and it was even brought to the prematch conference with a reporter asking Man Utd manager Michael Carrick what he made of the fan.

Reaction streams like the United Strand don’t actually show any live footage of the match – they are not live streams of football. Instead, they are supplementary content that fans can tune into, and with over 300,000 live viewers, The United Strand is easily among the most popular fan-made streams.

English Premier League and Gambling Ads

The blatant gambling sponsorship is not as concerning, what is really dangerous is that it is from a well known brand that is not actually regulated in the UK. The English Premier League has been widely criticized for its gambling ad sponsorships, and lawmakers celebrated a win when the league voluntarily decided to ditch front of shirt gambling sponsorships.

From 2026-27 onwards, we won’t see gambling sponsors taking up the valuable commercial space on the front of football shirts. A lot of these sponsors, incidentally, were also not regulated in the UK but bought the space to advertise to markets outside the UK. And that is not the only area these brands target. A BBC report back at the start of the season counted over 5,000 gambling ads during a Premier League match – with over 90% coming during live play.

Ads that appear in and around gameplay have long been criticised for encouraging viewers to take risks. While they have gambling disclaimers and responsible gambling messages, they will target fans with promotions or high value betting offers. You can get ads for special custom props bets, incentives like boosted odds or matched deposit offers, and while they cannot advertise live bets (these are in-play and so odds will change), they can advertize live betting functionalities like 2UP, and early payout features. These incentivize the bettors, and have the potential to trigger emotional responses in vulnerable parties.

Exposures to Minors and Vulnerable Groups

The problem here is that the content creator culture is fan-based, and it is far more difficult to curb its spread. Influencers like Ilett can reach thousands of fans through streams, clips, social media posts, and these can be shared further. Recently, the Dutch Gambling Authority, issued a complete ban on Share Your Bet features, which used in-app links to social media accounts. The reason was to stop gambling ads or “recruitment devices” reaching media platforms where they could run amok with little to no control.

Likewise, The United Strand cannot really control who sees the ads and who doesn’t; all they have done is stuck a Stake labelled accessory in the background of their live stream. But for this type of fanmade content, there are no visible or expressed disclaimers suggesting the content has gambling promotional material. The argument for Ilett here is that many influencers do it, so why should they implement age gating or audience segmentation? The problem here is that the exposure is happening in a space that is purely created for entertainment, and as it is not clearly labelled as an advertising space, parents could let their children watch the reaction streams without knowing the dangers.

US Woes with Gambling Ad Exposure

It is not meant to be harmful. But it could be. The US is currently facing a similar crisis of its own, with a report published by Common Sense Media that suggests thousands of underage boys are turning to sports betting. The study, based on reports supplied by the handful of states that were willing to hand the sensitive data, suggested that 36% of boys aged 11-17 gambled in 2025. The sources were pinned to peer pressure, parental exposure, gamified gambling devices in games, and exposure to gambling in social media. The latter could include anything from streams like The United Strand, to algorithm based gambling ads in their feeds.

The UKGC rolled out a survey back in November, 2025, analyzing the effect of influencers in gambling related content and ads. It found that of the 16% of young people who followed gambling related content, 31% had been exposed to gambling ads through influencers, creators or streamers. The report went on to state young people had seen or heard gambling ads: 49% from social media, 47% on an app, and 46% on streaming/video sharing platforms. Adverts to which they had been exposed at least once a week.

Where the Real Fight Lies

Gambling ads for unregulated betting sites can seriously undermine the work that the UKGC is putting into creating a safer and still competitive market for punters. Especially after the taxation changes and regulatory constraints that operators will have to work with going forwards. The fact that these gambling sites are quite well known and the UK is familiar with them speaks volumes to the dangers that UKGC compliant operators have to deal with.

Closing down on the sites in question and policing their advertising spaces is the obvious way to go. But targeting content creators is not the same as illegal live stream sites. Many, like the United Strand, have grassroots communities or growing social media fanbases. The real question is whether regulation can keep up with a media landscape, and find ways to curb unwanted black market gambling ads without hurting the Watchdog’s reputation or sparking outrage. If they can enforce the idea of clearly labeled, clearly targeted, and clearly regulated gambling ads, then the likes of Frank Ilett can continue to create content, without endangering the UK public.