The Advertising Standards Authority published a ruling on a complaint filed against Platinum Gaming Ltd, trading as Unibet. The council of the ASA overruled all the three issues that were investigated in relation to a brand’s Facebook post and three TV adverts.
One individual filed a complaint against a paid-for Facebook post reached on June 22nd, 2016 as well as against three adverts broadcast on TV in September 2016. As explained by the complainant, all ads featured three men who discussed the eventual outcomes of sporting events as well as the influence of various factors on the results.
All four adverts (one Facebook ad and three TV ads) displayed the three men in different situations, watching a football game, a cricket match and a basketball game. Apart from discussing various factors that might have influenced on the probable outcome of the games, at the time when the final whistle of the game was heard, an on-screen text saying “Luck is no coincidence” was displayed at the end of the ads.
The person who filed the complaint against Platinum Gaming claimed that the slogan “Luck is no coincidence” implied that every player was able to actually predict the outcome of various sporting events, which on the other hand could have meant that the element of chance was not involved in gambling. So, the complainant challenged the Advertising Standards Authority, saying that the TV adverts were misleading, and all four ads were irresponsible.
The company, trading as Unibet, commented on the allegations, saying that the campaign called “Luck In No Coincidence” referred exclusively to the content of its sportsbook products. In addition, the operator claimed that the campaign in question was referring to the expertise, knowledge and experience of their brand. The Unibet brand also said that research and information was the key to informed sports betting, and this was exactly the idea implied in the advertising campaign.
According to the company, the adverts were not misleading and were certainly not irresponsible.
After investigating the complaint, the Advertising Standards Authority did not uphold any of the accusations against Platinum Gaming. It investigated the issues reported by the user under the CAP Code rules 3.1 and 16.1 regarding Misleading advertising and Gambling, respectively. In addition, it also investigated the ads under the BCAP Code rule 1.2 and 3.1, regarding Responsible advertising and Misleading advertising, respectively.
The independent regulator did not find any of the four adverts, including the paid-for Facebook one and the three TV ones, in breach of the current regulatory framework and legislation and found that no further actions were needed.
- Author
Daniel Williams
