British ad watchdog upholds complaint against 888’s 777

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a 777 gaming ad was misleading.

UK.- The British ad watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has upheld a complaint against an ad for online gaming operator 888 UK’s 777.com subsidiary. The complainant had argued that the ad was misleading.

The advertisement showed a countdown clock showing three minutes with text that read “77 Free Spins (*T&C’s apply) ENABLED FOR ANOTHER”.

The complainant said this was misleading because the free spins did not end when the timer reached zero.

The advert also featured advertising claims that read “Casinos are trying to shut down a free Android App”. Referring to a person in the ad, the claim continued: “that’s allowing everyday people, like Simona Moron, to win huge progressive jackpots using nothing but free spins”.

777 said the ad was published by an affiliate marketer without its approval, but the ASA said that “as the beneficiaries of the marketing material, 777 was responsible for the ad.”

It found that customers “would understand that the countdown timer would relate to a specific time lamination” even though the timer would reset if the page was refreshed.

Meanwhile, it found that the phrase “Casinos are trying to shut down a free Android App” could be read literally by consumers to mean that casinos had actively attempted to prevent the app from operating, while the claim “that’s allowing everyday people, like Simona Moron, to win huge progressive jackpots using nothing but free spins” could be interpreted as suggesting that players had accrued sizeable winnings using only free spins.

The ASA said 777.com had provided “no evidence to support either claim”.

Last month, 888 announced record profit for the first half of the year. It also secured a deal to buy William Hill’s European assets, including its UK retail bookmakers.

See also: Pedro Romero leaves role as head of safer gambling at 888