ASA Bans 888 Ladies Bingo Adverts
A few months ago 888 Ladies Bingo run a massive £5 million pound golden ticket TV advertising campaign, but after just one complaint was made, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) took the decision to ban two of these ads……………..but you could say that this was better late than never.
The £5 million golden ticket game on 888 Ladies Bingo was only guaranteed to payout £50,000 and not £5m………..and upon viewing the ads, the one complainant certainly had a point about them maybe being misleading.
“The ASA noted £5 million was available to be won by one 888ladies.com golden ticket holder if they were able to match the 24 numbers on their card with the first 24 balls drawn in the game. We understood that if no one matched all the numbers on the card within the first 24 balls, the total prize fund dropped each time a new ball was drawn until such a time that someone matched all of the numbers on their card. “
They also went on to say, “We understood that after 40 balls were drawn, the prize fund remained constant at £50,000 regardless of the number of additional balls drawn, and that this amount would definitely be awarded to the individual who then completed their card.”
The ASA concluded that the online bingo TV ad by 888 Ladies Bingo breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Misleading advertising – qualification). This means that these ads will not be allowed to be aired on our TV screens again in their current form.
In their defence Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a 888ladies.com (Cassava) said “the ads did not make any claims about a guaranteed maximum cash prize but concentrated on the games golden ticket entry mechanism. They said 30 golden tickets were allocated daily to new and existing players on the 888ladies bingo website and those ticket holders were awarded free entry to the £5-million 24-ball-game. “
They also “argued that the ad related to the free entry to the game through this ticket allocation and not to an amount that was guaranteed to be won in the final game. They said £5-million prize was technically available to be won by a golden ticket holder, but argued the ad did not state that this amount would definitely be won or that it was a guaranteed prize.” But this was not enough to stop them getting banned.
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