The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued warnings to two casino operators over “inappropriate” advertisements.
William Hill and Paddy Power Betfair both received warnings from the organisation after they displayed advertisements on the Looney Tunes World of Mayhem app, seemingly targeting an underage audience.
According to reports, the adverts were displayed back in February 2019 and allegedly encouraged viewers to register an account and deposit money in order to play games or receive a free bet.
An anonymous person raised a complaint about the advertisements to the ASA, claiming them to be “inappropriately targeted” and the ASA issued a warning to the operators that their advertisements must not be used again without better targeting to ensure underage users are not exposed to it.
In response, William Hill confirmed that they had believed the ad “did not appear to be in accordance with advertising guidelines”. Following correspondence with Tapjoy, the organisation that promoted the advertisement, stated that age restrictions had been put in place to minimise the number of underage users viewing the ad.
Paddy Power Betfair insisted that they had implemented measures to prevent underage users viewing the ad and that they “went to great lengths to ensure that by requiring new customers to go through a verification process to set up an account”. They also stated that the ad was placed by Tapjoy.
Following the warning from the ASA, Paddy Power discovered that the mobile app’s publisher had opted in to accept at a “mature-plus” level for the app, effectively allowing gambling advertisements. Tapjoy’s advertisements are only suitable to those over 18 and apps with a “mature” or “mature-plus” level.
Paddy Power Betfair has announced it has stopped working with Tapjoy and William Hill has blacklisted the app and has announced it will no longer place any ads with Tapjoy in the future.
