Banned, ads that could get kids hooked on gambling
A BETTING giant has been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog for promoting games using cartoon characters that could appeal to children.
Coral used vibrant images to market three online slot machine games called Rainbow Riches, Lucky Wizard and Fishin’ Frenzy on its website.
In a ruling published yesterday, the Advertising Standards Authority said the ads ‘were likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s’ and should not appear again.
But some of the images were still on the Coral website yesterday.
A large number of gambling sites use cartoons and themes that could attract children, such as Top Cat and Inspector Gadget.
It came amid mounting concern that the wall-to-wall advertising of gambling websites on TV is normalising it for children. A study from the Gambling Commission reported that the number of 11 to 16-year- olds who are considered gambling addicts had risen by a third in three years to 25,000.
The ASA said Coral’s website promoted the game Rainbow Riches with an image including a rainbow, pot of gold and a leprechaun standing on a yellow road, ‘which was an iconic fictional element in a famous children’s novel’. It said the image used to promote the Lucky Wizard game was ‘highly stylised with a large nose, exaggerated cheekbones and had a thick colourful ginger beard with a long moustache with slightly curled tips’.
The Fishin’ Frenzy ad showed cartoon fish in the ocean, which had some similarities to films such as Finding Nemo, it added.
The ASA said: ‘Because we considered the ads featured animated images that were likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s and were marketing gambling products, we concluded that they breached the Committee of Advertising Practice Code.’
An ASA spokesman added: ‘Coral cannot use these images on the freely accessible parts of its website or in third-party media.’
Coral had argued it had reviewed the promotion of all its games and believed it did not break any rules. The firm said the images of the leprechaun and wizard were not ‘over the top’ and did not mimic any particular style ‘ that would make the graphics more appealing to a younger audience’.