The Advertising Standards Authority ruled in favour of LeoVegas Gaming Ltd after investigating a customer’s complaint against the company, according to which the latter had released a socially irresponsible ad.
The TV ad in question was seen by the complainant on July 25th 2016. It featured a man returning to the beach and looking for his friend who had left. The words “Gone to Vegas” were written in the sand, and the missing friend was displayed in a café while playing roulette on his smartphone. Then, a voice-over presented the LeoVegas mobile casino as a place which not only offered 50 free spins, but also featured real Vegas atmosphere.
The person who filed the complaint opposed to the TV advert, calling it “socially irresponsible”, since according to him it represented gambling as taking priority in life.
The casino and gaming company responded to the accusation, saying that they disagreed with the claims that its TV advert was socially irresponsible. LeoVegas opposed to the viewer’s claims and explained that the ad presented a certain situation where the participants were on a vacation, so that they had enough free time to spend on entertainment services. In addition, the company also said that the ad neither made the impression that gambling should be made one’s priority, nor it suggested such activities as an alternative to work.
Still, LeoVegas engaged themselves with removing the ad.
After carefully investigating the issue under BCAP Code rules 1.2 and 17.3.4 related to Social Responsibily and Gambling issues respectively, the Advertising Standards Authority came up with a ruling on the case. The organisation did not uphold the accusations against LeoVegas, as in its opinion the ad in question did not suggested that gambling had become a priority for the second man.
In addition the Advertising Standards Authority found that the ad’s setting was not equalized to a regular everyday situation or a habit that typically occurred. On the contrary, the man was displayed while gambling during his free time, which was exactly the reason why the ASA decided not to uphold the accusations. The organisation said that gambling was not portrayed as a priority in life in the ad and concluded that the advert was not socially irresponsible and did not breach the Code in any way.
- Author
Daniel Williams
