ASA bans ads from five social casino brands

Sudhanshu Ranjan September 25, 2024

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently banned advertisements from five social casino brands, citing that the ads misled consumers by implying they could win and withdraw real-world money from in-game activities. The companies involved are SpinX Games Ltd, Dataverse Co Limited, Huuuge Global Limited, Mobee Co Ltd, and Zeroo Gravity Games LLC.

The ASA is the UK’s independent advertising regulator responsible for ensuring that ads across all media comply with the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising (CAP Code). Lord David Currie (pictured above) of Marylebone is the chairman of this organisation. The organisation’s primary goal is to ensure that ads are legal, decent, honest, and truthful. Misleading advertising is a particular area of concern for the ASA, as it can harm consumers by giving false impressions of a product or service.

Social casinos are a genre of online games that mimic traditional casino games, such as slots, poker, and roulette, but without offering real-money gambling. The primary difference between social casinos and real gambling is that, in social casinos, any rewards won remain virtual, with no opportunity for financial gain. In recent years, the popularity of social casinos has skyrocketed, thanks to the rise of mobile gaming and social media platforms.

Why were the ads banned?

These five banned companies ran TikTok ads promoting their social casino games. These ads featured imagery and language closely associated with real-world gambling, such as the sound of slot machines and phrases like “hit the jackpot” or “win big.” The problem is that they did not clearly state that players could not actually win real money. Instead, they left viewers with the misleading impression that financial rewards were on the table, when all winnings were confined to the virtual world.

The ads in question breached several sections of the CAP Code, specifically rules 3.1 and 3.3. Rule 3.1 stipulates that marketing communications must not “materially mislead,” meaning that the core message of the ad should be accurate and not leave out critical details. Rule 3.3 reinforces this by clarifying that ads should not mislead by omitting material information. In addition to misleading advertising, Mobee Co Ltd also breached rule 1.7 of the CAP Code, which relates to compliance with the ASA’s enquiries. Mobee failed to respond to the ASA’s investigation, which was flagged as an “apparent disregard” for the rules.

TikTok, the social media platform where these ads appeared, also played a key role in addressing the issue. TikTok has strict policies regarding gambling and social casino content. These policies prohibit ads that compare social casino games to real gambling or imply that users can win real-world prizes. The banning of these ads may lead to reduced visibility on platforms like TikTok, and in the long term, they could lose consumer trust.

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