2025 SEA Games: Football spectators holding up online gambling site logo get broadcast live

The 2025 SEA Games men's football opening match on Dec. 3 was marred by technical difficulties — and the inadvertent broadcast of sneaky online gambling ads displayed by some spectators.

What happened

After Vietnam took the lead against Laos in the 28th minute, the camera panned from the celebrating players to a group of fans in the stands holding banners displaying the logo of what appears to be an online gambling website.

The group of spectators, consisting of at least seven women, appeared to have been cheering on the Vietnam team.

Footage of the post-goal celebration can still be found online.

Sound system difficulty

This was not the only snafu.

Before the start of the match, a technical failure with the sound system prevented the national anthems from being played.

As a result, players from both teams were forced to sing their respective national anthems without the music.

Fans in the stadium assisted with belting out the anthems.

The SEA Games 33 Organising Committee in Thailand subsequently issued a formal apology to Vietnam and Laos.

Vietnam beat Laos 2-1, but lost their 14-year clean sheet streak.

Other snafus

A few days before this, a graphic for the women's football Group A match between Thailand and Indonesia to be played on Dec. 5 showed incorrect flags.

The Indonesia flag was mixed up with the Laos flag, while the Thailand flag was mixed up with the Vietnam flag.

The image was quickly deleted from the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) social media channels.

Top photo via SEA Games 2025