Betfair ad gets cleared by the ASA

An advertisement branded as potentially irresponsible has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority.

UK.- A Betfair TV ad has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after being flagged as potentially irresponsible. A complaint had been filed against the broadcasted promotion but was recently dismissed by the British regulator.

Some concerns were raised as the ad shows a man going through a secret door into a room with a large TV showing horse racing as a voice-over says: “My gut says that horse is something special and my smarts say to back it on the Betfair Exchange where I get bigger returns than if I bet with one of these other bookies. That’s why I go to Betfair. Betfair, where gut instinct meets smarts.”

According to complaints, the betting experience was shown in order to “exploit the susceptibilities of young men,” but the ASA dismissed such a claim. The watchdog said it didn’t find any violations to the code in the ad and assured no actions were needed.

Betfair replied to the complainant and explained that the man shown in the ad didn’t place any bets on screen, which meant gambling was not necessarily displayed as an important part of his life. They also denied it was, in any way, trying to exploit any susceptibilities of the underaged, and was only looking to display its customers the range of odds available.