Misleading ad for 888: the UK Advertising Standards Authority intervenes

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled against 888 UK Ltd concerning a complaint made against the 777.com gambling group subsidiary.

The advertisement pictured a text reading “77 Free Spins (*T&C’s apply) ENABLED FOR ANOTHER”, on top of a countdown clock showing three minutes, which was deemed to be misleading, considering that the free spins could still be accessed once the timer reaches zero.

Furthermore, the ad featured two other texts, one that read: “Casinos are trying to shut down a free Android App”; and another one referring to a person represented in the commercial, which specifically said: “that’s allowing everyday people, like Simona Moron, to win huge progressive jackpots using nothing but free spins”.

Answering to the investigation taking place by ASA, 777 responded that the ad was the work of an affiliate marketer, which did not obtain the approval of the online casino. 

The authority acknowledged this, but added that “as the beneficiaries of the marketing material, they were responsible for the ad”, and that consumers “would understand that the countdown timer would relate to a specific time lamination”. The way this ad was created was meant to push users to take advantage of the offer before the timer reaches zero, even though the same would restart at every refresh of the page. 

Furthermore, the ASA believes that the claim “Casinos are trying to shut down a free Android App” could lead customers to believe that casinos have somehow actively tried to stop an app from working.

“We also considered that consumers would understand the claim ‘that’s allowing everyday people, like Simona Moron, to win huge progressive jackpots using nothing but free spins’ as an indication that consumers had accrued sizeable winnings using only free spins,” the ASA also specified.

“However, 777.com provided us with no evidence to support either claim. In the absence of such evidence, we concluded the ad was misleading.”

What now?

The ASA has decided the following:

“The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told 888 UK Ltd t/a 777.com to ensure that they held adequate evidence to substantiate claims made in ads for 777, even when placed by affiliate marketers. We also reminded them that they must ensure that future advertising for 777 did not misleadingly imply that offers were time-limited, for example by using a countdown clock, if that was not the case.”

You can read about everything the ASA has decreed on the case right here.