ASA Adjudication on Euro Gaming Ltd

Ad

A banner ad, for an internet gambling site, stated "Easy cash play bingo. Win easy cash play bingo. Don't miss our great slots and tournaments, Chat & play at Bingos.co.uk".

Issue

The complainant objected that the ad:

1. was likely to encourage excessive gambling and

2. appeared on the sign-in page for web-based access to e-mail accounts and could therefore easily be seen by children.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Bingos.co.uk (Bingos) said the ad had appeared only on the NTL homepage and there were no plans to repeat it. They maintained that NTL had approved the placement and creative advertising message prior to its launch, and that NTL were satisfied that the ad was not in a prime position to be viewed by people under 18 years of age.

Bingos claimed that they promoted themselves to an adult audience subject to the gambling restrictions imposed on them, that they used various methods to ensure no under 18s were able to play on their site and that they took problem gambling very seriously.

NTL (which has since become Virgin Media) said as a rule they did not 'clear' ads for advertisers on ntlworld.com; instead, all advertisers warranted to NTL that their ads would comply with the CAP Code, and NTL published ads relying on that warranty. They said any approval given for the ad would have been an internal one, in relation to NTL's own liability under section 42(1)(c) of the Gaming Act 1968 (as there was criminal liability for publishers under that section), and they were keenly aware of the DCMS/Gambling Commission guidance on that subject.

NTL argued that because the ad was for bingo, section 42(1)(c) did not apply to it and they had published on that basis. They pointed out that the Deregulation (Betting and Bingo Advertising) Order 1997 had lifted restrictions on bingo advertising in the UK, to allow bingo operators to advertise on the same level as the National Lottery; they saw this as tacit acceptance by the government that such advertising was not likely to encourage excessive gambling.

NTL sent data from the UK Internet Monitor survey conducted by an independent research company, which showed that the usage of the NTL site by those under 18 years of age stood at 2% in 2006 and usage by under 16s was 0%. They said to be an NTL customer it was necessary to be 18 years of age or older and that the age profiling of advertising on ntlworld took that into account. They pointed out that how customers chose to run their internet accounts in the privacy of their own home (for example by allowing their children to have ntlworld.com e-mail addresses) was generally their own business. They added that for data protection reasons they did not keep data on the number of e-mail accounts belonging to under 18s, who would not be customers because of their age.

NTL added that the exact placement of the ad was determined by Bingos agency and that NTL's sales team would have notified the agency of the rates for certain placements on the site, and the agency would have made the decision to buy those placements based on the budget that Bingos had given them.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the Deregulation Order 1997 removed all major restrictions on bingo advertising and that it was now allowed to appear in all media. We also noted NTL's argument that the lifting of restrictions on bingo advertising implied that it was not considered to be an incitement to excessive gambling. We considered, however, that the statement "easy cash play bingo" gave the impression that it was easy to make money from playing online bingo. Because the ad appeared on an internet provider sign-in page for e-mail accounts where it could be viewed by all including the vulnerable and those who were unfamiliar with online gambling, we considered that the reference to "easy cash" could be seen as encouraging people to resolve their financial difficulties by playing bingo online. We concluded that the ad was irresponsible because it could encourage excessive or unwise gambling.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 54.1 and 54.2 (Betting and gaming).

2. Not upheld

We noted NTL's assertion that although it appeared on an e-mail sign-in page that was accessible to all, the ad was not targeted specifically at children. We also noted the survey showed that a very small proportion of individuals under 18 years of age and no individuals under 16 years of age used the ntlworld site. We understood that children could have ntlworld.com e-mail addresses, but that that was at the discretion of parents and was not subject to regulation by NTL, whose customers were all over 18s. We considered that, because the number of children who would access the e-mail sign-in page was very small and that those who did would have been given access by their parents, the ad was unlikely to encourage under age gambling.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clause 54.3 (Betting and gaming) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We told Bingos.co.uk not to repeat the ad in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)