The UK advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated and upheld two issues included in a complaint against Malta-based online casino operator AG Communications Limited.
The complainant reported that a web page relating to the online slot game Starburst was featured on the company’s website www.Karamba.com on May 3rd, 2018. According to the complainant, a title “Tips and tricks on how to Win at Starburst” appeared, followed by text offering some tips and tricks for playing the slot game to the player’s advantage.
The filed complaint challenged whether the advert was aimed at misleading potential customers to think that using particular strategies would boost their chances of winning. In addition, it also challenged whether the ad was socially irresponsible as it encouraged certain gambling behaviour which could lead to gambling-related harm.
The online gambling operator responded to the claims, saying that the web pages in question were uploaded to the www.Karamba.com website due to human error.
AG Communications further explained that the marketing materials had not gone through the normal internal procedure for approval. According to the company, neither one of the two procedures which would have been followed in any other circumstance had been observed by the personnel responsible for the claims made in the ad. The website, on the other hand, revealed that the challenged ad had already been removed and an internal review had been given a start in order for the issue to be addressed.
ASA Investigation and Response to Complaints
The Advertising Standards Authority took into consideration the issues included in the complaint and investigated on the matter.
According to the UK advertising regulatory body, the title and the content of the text uploaded on the www.Karamba.com website could make potential customers think they could significantly improve their chances of winning by using the suggested strategies, tips and tricks. The ASA further noted that there was not any evidence in support of the claims made by the aforementioned “tips” and “tricks”, which is why the watchdog considered them misleading to consumers. The regulator found that the ad breached CAP Code rules 3.1 related to Misleading advertising and 3.7 related to Substantiation on that point.
The other issue included in the complaint challenged whether the ad was socially irresponsible. The Advertising Standards Authority reminded that the CAP Code required from marketing communications for gambling not to encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour which could lead to any financial losses, as well as to emotional or social harm. However, its investigation showed that the challenged marketing content uploaded on the gambling operator’s website could encourage gambling behaviour which could lead to such harm and concluded that the ad breached CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3.1 and 16.3.2 related to Gambling.
The watchdog said that the gambling operator must make sure that the ad does not appear in its current form any more. In addition, it told the website to make sure that its future advertising campaigns do not contain any materials which could be misleading to customers or encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour which could lead to any negative consequences.
- Author
Olivia Cole
