ASA Shuts Down a Monopoly-themed Gambling Ad

• ASA takes down Monopoly-inspired ad
• Entertaining Play argues against the decision
• ASA maintains position nevertheless

Watchdogs in the UK continue to intensify measures against gambling that targets or appeals to younger generations and underage individuals.

ASA Removes Monopoly Ad from the Internet

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a United Kingdom media watch dog, has established irregularities with Mirror Online casino’s advertisement practices, and particularly with regards to target group of the advertisement campaign.

According to ASA, a Monopoly-inspired ad featuring Rich Uncle Pennybags breached the regulatory’s code of conduct which prohibits gambling companies from creating ads that might appeal to underage audience.

At the beginning of 2018, ASA had to take down a Mario Kart ad launched by UK sports betting & gambling compny William Hill.

Regulators in the United Kingdom are stepping their efforts to stem underage individuals exposure to gambling content across various media, including apps, computer games, television ads, and more.

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has revved up its efforts to limit underage gambling by issues a slew of regulatory measures, including mandatory 72-hour indentity checks.

Gambling amongst youngsters is a real issue, with the number of underage gamblers aged 11-16 increasing to 55,000 nationwide.

Not all was bad news, as the UKGC explained that these manifestation of gambling behavior were limited to exchnages between children their age, such as trade card games.

Rich Uncle Pennybags Not Young People’s Favorite

Conversely, Entertaining Play argued that the famed Monopoly masot is very unlikely to appeal to young audiences since he is depicted as an elderly man.

The company also added that the colors of the ad were not in any way oversuggestive, sticking to dull colors instead of any bright tingets. ASA riposted that Monopoly is still considered a family game.

“We considered that Monopoly was a family game generally played by or with children, and that under-18s would therefore recognise and find the ad’s references to it appealing.”

ASA further added that the depiciton of the character remianded a cartoon, which made it far more likely for youngsters to be interested in the ad and the meaning behind it.

The debate to negate gambling harm is ongoing with operators opting into a voluntary water-shed advertisement ban. Meanwhile, the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) got a maximum stake reduction recently and now allow gamers to play only at £2 per bet. The Remote Gambling Duty (RGD) is also rising to 21% in October, 2019