The UK advertising regulator has upheld a ruling against A&S Leisure Group, trading as Napoleons Casinos, making the company download one of its ads.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has investigated the company following a complaint against an advertisement that appeared on Napoleons Casinos’ website and official Facebook page.
The complaint regarded the home page of the online casino operator’s platform www.napoleons-casinos.co.uk that was seen on August 16th, 2021 to have encouraged customers to enjoy “unlimited gambling” across its casino network. A post on the company’s Facebook page, seen on the same date, also claimed that Napoleons Casino offered “unlimited gaming entry”. Also, on the website’s FAQs page, the casino claimed that its customers will be given access to “unrestricted gambling” if they produce appropriate ID.
The complainant challenged whether the claims for offering unlimited gaming and gaming services could be categorised as socially irresponsible. The ASA, on the other hand, also challenged whether the claim “unrestricted gambling” made on the FAQs page of Napoleons Casinos was also irresponsible.
Napoleons Casinos Counter the Accusations of Irresponsible Advertising
The company responded to the accusations, saying that it was a fully licensed casino operator based in the UK and, as such, it was subject to the Money Laundering Regulations.
Since 2007, under the aforementioned regulations, customers were allowed to enter the company’s casinos as visitors and, in these cases, they were not obliged to present any ID. Visitors’ time on gaming tables and slot machines is limited, and so is the amount they are allowed to cash out. However, whenever customers enter the casinos as “full members”, they were required to present valid identification and the aforementioned limits do not apply to them. As explained by the gambling operator, this was exactly the reason why it had used the term “unlimited gambling”.
Furthermore, the gambling company said that some time ago, it had decided that the term “unlimited gambling”, which is otherwise technically correct, could be interpreted wrongly, so it decided to change it and use the term “unrestricted gambling” instead. That was the reason why Napoleons Casinos changed its advertising. Unfortunately, some instances were obviously missed, as in the controversial ads, and the company had made the necessary amendments.
Napoleons Casinos further explained that they would remove all references made either to “unrestricted” or “unlimited” gambling on their platform and social media accounts and would make sure that no such claims appear in any of their marketing materials in the future.
ASA Says Napoleon Casinos Must Remove Controversial Ads
Under the provisions of the CAP Code rules, adverts must not accept, portray or encourage gambling behaviour that is considered socially irresponsible or could result in social, financial or emotional harm.
The advertising regulatory body took into account that, under the provisions of the Money Laundering Regulations, there were some differences between the limits regarding time and cash spend at the casino premises applicable for members and non-members of Napoleons Casinos. However, the ASA believes that most customers would not be aware that the term “unlimited gambling” referred especially to the limits set under the aforementioned regulations.
The Advertising Standards Authority investigated the ads and found that the advertising materials used by Napoleons Casinos violated CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3 and 16.3.1 regarding gambling.
The regulatory body ruled that the ads must not appear in their previous form anymore and addressed the A&S Leisure Group, saying it must make sure that its future ads must not create the wrong impression in consumers that unlimited or unrestricted gambling is available in its premises or on its online platform.
- Author
Olivia Cole
