Related content for Ladbrokes Attacks ‘Politically Correct’ ASA After Ad Ban

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has used updated gambling advertising regulations for the first time in order to ban a series of television gambling adverts for online gaming company InterCasino, whilst also upholding complaints against a newspaper ad for bookmaker Paddy Power.

A television advert for online poker room PKR has been banned from broadcast by the UK’s advertising regulator. In an assessment that cleared PKR of seeking to appeal directly to young people, the Advertising Standards Authority nevertheless decided that the ad glamorised the risks involved with gambling and was therefore irresponsible.

The gaming industry is “keeping its house in order” and carefully complying with new rules regarding advertising on TV, according to the UK’s advertising watchdog.

Ladbrokes has revealed that a prominent £5m television advertising campaign launched last year - the first by a British bookmaker under the 2005 Gambling Act - led to a 25 percent increase in football betting, placating some industry concerns that stringent regulations governing TV advertising of gambling products would render those adverts ineffective.

UK Advertising regulators are to launch their own monitoring project to assess whether TV gambling commercials are meeting statutory regulations after receiving only 30 complaints since the law was changed in September.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published the findings of its Gambling Compliance Survey 2007. The report confirms that the UK industry achieved “an exceptionally high compliance rate,” with 99% of ads surveyed adhering to the guidelines, although six television ads breached the rules.

A surreal TV advert by bookmaker Paddy Power which features a blind football team kicking a cat into a tree has been cleared by advertising regulators despite more than 1,000 complaints.

Regulators have banned a television gaming advert after complaints it suggested that players were more likely to win in online games than in bricks-and-mortar casinos.

Two online adverts for the sports betting site of Malta-based Partouche Interactive run during the Euro 2008 football championships and featuring ex-Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for violating gambling advertising rules.

Another gambling company has fallen foul of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules regarding the linkage of gambling with sexual success.