Merkur Cashino Cleared of Advertising Misconduct

A UK betting site has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of any wrongdoing after it placed a promotion on the back of a bus ticket. A complaint was received by the ASA about the advert from Merkur Cashino with claims that it was directly appealing to children with its promotion.

Tough UK rules

The UK has one of the most highly regulated gambling markets in the world, and that includes its rules on the promotion of gambling. Although it does permit some advertisements, UK legislation is very clear on the fact that it must not be targeting children in any way.

Very specifically, in the Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing Code, Rule 16.3.13 states that advertising must not be aimed at children in both its content or its location.

Although it may be inevitable that some children could view an advert, the Code considers that a promotion will be considered as targeting minors if more than 25% of the audience is liable to be under the age of 18. If the ASA received a complaint about an advert targeting children, the gambling operator must be able to prove that the number of minors would not have exceeded 25% of its total audience.

The complaint received related to a promotion which was printed on the reverse of a child’s bus ticket, offering “£5 free plays” with the production of the ticket.

Complaint rejected 

Although the promotional campaign was printed on a child’s bus ticket, the ASA has cleared Merkur Cashino of breaching its code of conduct.

The gambling operator told the ASA that it had carefully researched the number of child passengers on board that bus route and had been reliably informed that it was no more than 23%. National Express West Midlands confirmed that during term time, only 15% of tickets issued were for children, a number that dropped to 12% during holidays.

Merkur were also quick to point out to the ASA that their promotions was not intended to appeal to children and did not have any element designed to do so. Each ad also carried a warning about being for over 18s only.

The ASA accepted the arguments put forward by the gambling operator and accepted that fewer than 25% of the audience who saw the advert would be aged under 18. The regulator said that on certain routes, such as those which serve schools, the proportion could be higher but said that on the one that had been complained about, there were no such issues.