The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) slammed gambling company Lucky Go Studio Ltd for an allegedly misleading advert.
According to a complaint filed by one individual, an in-app video advert for the Lucky Goal application that was seen on November 25th, 2019, showed a person receiving a message that their credit card had been declined while forming a purchase on the Amazon website. They clicked on an on-screen text leading to the Lucky Goal app, played a game of roulette and generating an $85 win. Then, the person answered correctly to a couple of questions and won $100, and then, another winning amounting to $54 followed from a virtual scratch card.
The complainant challenged whether the advert could mislead people, saying that in their opinion it deliberately made the chances of a layer winning prizes while using the gambling operator’s application look bigger.
There has been no response to the enquiries carried out by the ASA from Lucky Go Studio’s part.
On the other hand, as the UK advertising watchdog shared, it was seriously concerned by the lack of response demonstrated by the gambling operator that also showed considerable disregard for the Code.
Advertising Watchdog Finds Lucky Go App Breached Several CAP Code Rules
The Advertising Standards Authority initiated an investigation into the afore-mentioned advert to check whether the gambling company has actually violated the advertising rules.
As a result of the investigation, the ASA found that Lucky Go Studio Ltd breached CAP Code Rule 1.7 associated with unreasonable delay. This ended up with the regulatory body reminding the company that it is responsible to respond promptly to the watchdog’s enquiries and strongly advised it to make sure it does so in future.
As far as the content of the advert is concerned, the ASA considered that consumers would understand that users of the Lucky Goal application had a reasonable chance of generating a win the sums of money features in the controversial advert. According to the advertising regulatory authority, customers would also understand from the ad that they would be able to redeem any money they won.
Unfortunately, Lucky Go Studio Ltd did not provide the ASA with any information and proof that its customers had actually won and redeemed the sums featured in the advert. Considering the lack of evidence, the Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the gambling operators had not managed to sustain the claims made in its advert, which was, therefore, misleading to consumers. After the assessment made by the watchdog, it ruled that the gambling company’s advert breached CAP Code rules 3.1, 3.3, 3.7 and 3.11, regarding misleading advertising, substantiation and exaggeration, respectively.
As a result, Lucky Go Studio Ltd must make sure that the advert does not appear any more in its current form. The gambling company also has to make sure that it did not exaggerate the chances of its customers generating a win.
- Author
Olivia Cole
