Social casinos in UK: ASA bans ads from five brands

The advertising watchdog found that the ads gave the impression that players could win real-world money.

UK.- The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned adverts for five social casino brands for giving the impression that players could win and withdraw real-world money. The ads all ran on the social media platform TikTok.

The ASA said that the adverts investigated were misleading since they made no clarification that they were social casino games, potentially leading customers to believe they could win real-world money. The brands involved were SpinX Games, Dataverse Co, Huuuge Global Limited, Mobee Co and Zeroo Gravity Games LLC.

The advertising watchdog noted that an advert for Zeroo Gravity Games’ Cash Tornado app showed images and sounds of slots gameplay. It also noted the use of phrases like “hitting the jackpot”, which it said was associated with gambling and could be misinterpreted.

The ads were found to have branched CAP Code rules 3.1, under which marketing communications must not “materially mislead” the public, and 3.3, which states that adverts must not mislead by omitting material information. Mobee was also found to have breached rule 1.7 for failing to respond to the ASA’s enquiries in a timely manner. 

The regulator said the ads in question must not appear again in the same form and that the companies involved must avoid suggesting that customers could win real-world money or other tangible prizes from social casino games.

Meanwhile, the ASA has confirmed that it is looking into the use of memes to advertise gambling amid criticism of the practice on social media. It is investigating whether this form of content marketing could pose a risk to minors.

The news comes after peers in the House of Lords cross-party group on gambling reforms raised concerns over a lack of action on “clear rule breaches”. In a letter to the ASA, the Liberal Democrat peer Don Foster of Bath highlighted 11 reports submitted to the ASA since 2019, including from academics from the University of Bristol.

Research has suggested that memes are four times as appealing to under 18s as to adults and could encourage minors to follow gambling accounts, especially when the memes relate to the performance of major football teams