ASA Rule on Betfred UK TV Commercial

By Simon Wright, Last updated Apr 24, 2019

The Advertising Standards Authority ( ASA ) have ruled on a television advertisement run by Petre ( Gibraltar ) Ltd aka Betfred, which was broadcast on the 20th January earlier this year.

With the complainant asserting that the advertisement which depicted  a woman in the bath, a man preparing a meal and a woman exercising all while playing online bingo on mobile devices, normalised gambling whilst carrying out every day activities.

Petre ( Gibraltar ) Ltd submitted that the advertisement for Betfred was not in breach of ASA regulations, stating: “The ad did not suggest that people should play bingo excessively or that it should take priority over any other social interaction. The ad did not promote high-stakes gambling, nor did it present any unrealistic positive or negative emotions which insinuated harm.”

In their ruling, the ASA have not upheld the complaint, with the authority issuing the following statement: “We concluded that the ad did not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that was socially irresponsible, or portray gambling as indispensable or as taking priority in life. We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 17.3.1 and 17.3.4 (Gambling) but did not find it in breach.”

Furthermore the ASA on their site wrote: “The ASA considered the ad focused on how people could gamble using Betfred bingo while also undertaking tasks or leisure activities around the house. The characters taking a bath and exercising were shown playing bingo in conjunction with doing those tasks, rather than instead of them. Gambling was therefore not portrayed as taking priority over those tasks or as indispensable.”

“During the section showing the character preparing a meal, he was seen throwing food in the air when he realised he had won a prize. While we considered the character’s exaggerated reaction to winning showed he was briefly distracted from his task, again we did not consider that this scene portrayed gambling as taking priority in life.”

Just recently the ASA at the beginning of April found five iGaming firms in breach of their guidelines, when they set up over a two week period several online profiles depicting children.

Simon Wright

Simon Wright has been both a player and an observer of the online casino industry for over 15 years. His knowledge of the online casino industry – to include sports is massive. Not many folks have the experience or his knowledge about online gambling. His adoration of football is also noted. He has painted his house blue (Chelsea) and annoys his neighbors with local football songs on game days.


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