ASA Says Online Gambling Ads are Illegal

March 4, 2008

The Advertising Standards Authority has called foul on several online gambling ads as they say that they have “breached the advertising code.” They say that the ads were written to appeal to children and they “link gambling with success” which makes them misleading.

The ASA says that more than one in ten TV commercials for online gambling has broken the rules. They checked 56 different online gambling services and found five companies that broke the rules. Four of the sites were online casino and poker sites and one was for an online gambling supermarket.

There was one other advertisement and that was for a bingo service. It was cited as it suggested that “gambling could improve self-image or self-esteem and achieve financial security.” They also monitored another 784 advertisements and found one that had broken the rules in regards to suggesting that there was a link between online gambling and “sexual seduction or success.”

The ASA says that overall, most of the online casinos and online gambling companies have worked hard at following the rules and that these cases are the exception, rather than the rule. ASA Director General Christopher Graham says that he feels that the “advertising self regulation was working effectively” and that he felt it had been a success.

He is of course referring to the Gambling Act that relaxed advertising – and made it possible for online casinos and gambling websites to advertise on TV.




Back to March 2008 Archive.