Please gamble responsibly.
by Penny Walker
Online Bingo sites are to issue guidance and regulations to their players mandatorily for responsible gaming.� So also the sites have to follow responsible advertising, lest they will be penalized by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).� There are codes of conduct to be followed in advertising, including TV advertising with regard to any online Bingo site.
This has been proved once again by a complaint made by a single viewer of the TV advertisement, aired by Equinox Film/TV Production on behalf of St. Minver Ltd. to advertise for Littlewoods Bingo. The challenge posed by the viewer before ASA was whether the concerned advertisement was encouraging irresponsible gambling behaviour, as the advertisement implied that large sums of money could be won on multiple occasions.
There is no second opinion that the Bingo online sites are advertising invariably in their sites that the player has lots of chances of winning hefty prize monies and goodies.� The fun and thrill of Bingo Games� playing hinges upon the wonderful chances of meager stakes winning great cash prizes.� While so, the objection by a single viewer of the TV ad lacked substance at the very root.
The ad showed two women chatting at Littlewoods Bingo chat room, in the background of animated bingo balls moving in the green background. The voice-over the ad says ��now we bring you Bingo..come and join the fun�.Littlewoods Bingo is the name you can trust to payout bigstyle�hundreds of winners�tens of thousands of prizes every single day.. The shot cut to a woman sitting in front of a computer with text running on it saying ..�Leanne What did you just win??? Kate: �500�.again X�.
ASA noted the comments from Clearcast that they did not consider the ad misleading. St. Minver had supported the claims made in the ad by documents for the number and amounts of payouts. The ASA considered that the viewers would understand the contents of the advertisement and the brief inclusion of the text would not amount to encouraging irresponsible gambling behaviour.� As such ASA dismissed the complaint with no further actions.
This ruling allows the advertisement being telecast on the TV (the complaint has really added to the popularity of the specific advert, as people would like to see it with more attention now, thanks to the complaint). The bottom line is Bingo online sites should be very careful in selecting the content of their TV and site ads, so as not to invite objections from viewers, whatsoever.