SOURCE: Guardian Unlimited

Ladbrokes launches its first national TV campaign tonight, following the relaxation of gambling and betting advertising restrictions.

The advert stars TV presenting legend Jimmy Hill, and also features ex-footballers Ally McCoist, Ian Wright, Lee Dixon and Chris Kamara.

Ladbrokes claims that it is the first bookmaker to begin TV advertising of betting services since new rules under the Gambling Act 2005 came into force on September 1 - allowing sports betting ads to run around sports events.

The £5m campaign, which runs with the strapline "Everyone's got an opinion, what's yours worth?", will launch tonight during the half-time break in the Manchester United versus Roma Champions League match on ITV1.

It is the first TV work created by M&C Saatchi since Ladbrokes appointed the agency in January to develop a campaign to take advantage of the new advertising rules.

The ad opens with Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist entering a greasy spoon café and greeting Ian Wright, Lee Dixon and Chris Kamara by calling them "salad dodgers".

The quartet, all dressed as builders, start a discussion about who will win the Premiership - involving a large amount of tongue-in-cheek verbal harassment of each other.

When Ian Dixon orders a cup of tea from the waitress - who turns out to be TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher - Wright replies that it is as "close as your lot will get to a cup".

At the end of the advert, the camera cuts to the kitchen where former BBC Match of the Day presenter Jimmy Hill, who is the café cook, laments that "they know nothing these days".

Mr. Hill, now 79, has enjoyed a career in football including time as a player, coach, manager, chairman and presenter - including a stint with Sky Sports in his own weekly discussion show, Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement.

The chief executive of Ladbrokes, Chris Bell, said: "These ads capture the fun of having a flutter on football and testing your opinion - something millions of people already enjoy every week. We're pleased to be the first to air with betting advertising."

The campaign aims to target 18 to 34-year-old casual gamblers who tend to bet occasionally on football, rather than older, betting shop customers who prefer to bet on racing.