ASAtakes down Monopoly-inspired adEntertainingPlay argues against the decisionASAmaintains position nevertheless
Watchdogsin the UK continue to intensify measures against gambling thattargets or appeals to younger generations and underage individuals.
ASARemoves Monopoly Ad from the Internet
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a United Kingdom media watch dog, has established irregularities with Mirror Online casino’s advertisement practices, and particularly with regards to target group of the advertisement campaign.
According to ASA, a Monopoly-inspired ad featuring Rich Uncle Pennybags breached the regulatory’s code of conduct which prohibits gambling companies from creating ads that might appeal to underage audience.
At the beginning of 2018, ASA had to take down a Mario Kart ad launched by UK sports betting & gambling compny William Hill.
Regulatorsin the United Kingdom are stepping their efforts to stem underageindividuals exposure to gambling content across various media,including apps, computer games, television ads, and more.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has revved up its efforts to limit underage gambling by issues a slew of regulatory measures, including mandatory 72-hour indentity checks.
Gamblingamongst youngsters is a real issue, with the number of underagegamblers aged 11-16 increasing to 55,000 nationwide.
Notall was bad news, as the UKGC explained that these manifestation ofgambling behavior were limited to exchnages between children theirage, such as trade card games.
RichUncle Pennybags Not Young People’s Favorite
Conversely,Entertaining Playargued that the famed Monopoly masot is very unlikely to appeal toyoung audiences since he is depicted as an elderly man.
Thecompany also added that the colors of the ad were not in any wayoversuggestive, sticking to dull colors instead of any brighttingets. ASA riposted that Monopoly is still considered a familygame.
“We considered that Monopoly was a family game generally played by or with children, and that under-18s would therefore recognise and find the ad’s references to it appealing.”
ASAfurther added that the depiciton of the character remianded acartoon, which made it far more likely for youngsters to beinterested in the ad and the meaning behind it.
Thedebate to negate gambling harm is ongoing with operators opting intoa voluntary water-shed advertisement ban. Meanwhile, thefixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) gota maximum 7BALL stake reduction recently and now allow gamers to play onlyat £2 per bet. The Remote Gambling Duty (RGD) is also rising to 21%in October, 2019
