Online gambling company Skill on Net Ltd was sanctioned by the UK advertising regulatory body for using misleading marketing in the advertisements for PlayOJO, an online gaming site it owns. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation after receiving three separate complaints against PlayOJO filed seven months ago. They concerned a ‘hot or cold’ filtering feature offered by the brand that informed players which games on the website have consistently paid out recently and which have not.
Marketing materials promoting the feature appeared in three separate television ads, a blog post, and a webpage. The television ads showed a casino player visiting a tarot reader supposedly looking for a hint or a sign about the games on winning streaks. The tarot reader secretly used the ‘hot or cold’ feature on her smartphone to identify them while flipping over tarot cards with her other hand.
A voice-over then prompted viewers to ‘choose’ their destiny while a text message ran through the screen warning them the feature is not a sure-proof indicator of results or success. The television adverts were pre-approved by the non-governmental organisation Clearcast.
The blog post advertised the same functionality under the title “Reveal games on winning streaks with our new ‘hot or cold’ feature”. A message at the bottom implied players were in the driver’s seat, followed by a link that led to the gaming site’s sign-up page.
The ad published on the webpage was similar and prompted players to ‘take control’ of their playtime by using said feature. The wording the ads used was the main issue in two of the three lodged complaints. The third complaint accused the operator of exploiting cultural beliefs and gambling myths by incorporating the tarot reader.
ASA Determined the Ads Could Lead to Financial or Social Harm
When confronted about the content, Skill on Net Ltd responded the ads did not imply ‘hot’ games were more likely to return payouts. The functionality did not serve as any indicator of future outcomes and success, the operator emphasised. The company insisted the feature simply showed users how much money the games had paid and which releases had not yielded payouts for a while.
Skill on Net Ltd also added that the feature relied on algorithms that used real-time gameplay data. The company stressed the functionality was intended to recreate the atmosphere in landbased casinos where roulette tables usually feature number boards with recent winning numbers. Some patrons use this to make decisions about what to bet on next. The trouble is past outcomes are in no way connected to future results.
But while Skill on Net Ltd did not consider the ads inappropriate or deceptive, the regulatory body begged to differ. The regulator subsequently upheld two of the complaints, labelling the ads misleading. According to the ASA, some of the phrasing implied that players can use the ‘hot or cold’ feature to predict the results and impact future success.
The watchdog dubbed the ads irresponsible, stating they could harm players socially, financially, and emotionally. The ASA said the ads could leave players with the erroneous idea they had greater control over their bets when using the feature, when this was clearly not the case. The cultural exploitation complaint was not upheld, however. The ASA ordered Skill on Net not to show the ads in this form and advised the company to be more careful with future marketing materials.
- Author
Olivia Cole
