Sportsbet slammed for featuring Olympic drug cheat in betting ad

An Australian online bookmaker is under pressure to dump a controversial ad featuring the endorsement of a former Olympian who was caught using steroids.

Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was recently hired to promote a “juiced-up” phone app with “performance enhancing” capabilities for gambling giant Sportsbet.

The 56-year-old infamously tested positive to using anabolic steroids at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after winning a gold medal and a 100m world title. 

The finding ultimately led to Johnson being stripped of both awards.

The Sportsbet campaign, which attempts to capitalise on Johnson’s notorious status with the tagline “putting the roid into Android”, has attracted backlash online.

It reportedly drew a number of complaints and has since led to Federal Sports Minister Greg Hunt calling for the ad to be pulled, The Herald Sun reports. 

“To use a known drug cheat such as Ben Johnson to advertise (Sportsbet’s) product is utterly inappropriate,” Mr Hunt said.

The Herald Sun reports Johnson was payed more than $200,000 to appear in the ad.