ASA rules against Paddy Power and in favour of bet365

On 20 September 2017, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled against Power Leisure Bookmakers Ltd (trading as Paddy Power) and in favour of Hillside (UK Sports) LP (trading as bet365).

Paddy Power

An ad appeared in the Evening Standard on 23 August 2017 and the Metro on 24 August 2017. It featured the headline claim “ALWAYS BET ON BLACK” together with an image of boxer Floyd Mayweather and text stating “WE’VE PAID OUT EARLY ON A MAYWEATHER VICTORY BECAUSE WE CHECKED, AND ONLY ONE OF THEM IS A BOXER”.

Nine complaints were received that the headline was a reference to Mayweather’s race and challenged whether it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Paddy Power said that the ad was not intended to cause offence on race grounds. They attempted to justify the headline as a gambling pun because the fight was in Las Vegas and “betting on black” as a roulette reference. Further, they stated that the headline quoted Wesley Snipes in the 1992 film Passenger 57 - which they deemed their target market to be familiar with – and that Mayweather had approved the ad campaign.

The ASA held that the ad breached CAP Code rule 4.1. They considered that it was likely to be seen by a wide readership across the two free untargeted newspapers who would interpret “always bet on black” alongside an image of Mayweather as a pun on Mayweather’s race (not only betting on roulette). Further, they believed that many readers would be unfamiliar with the 1992 film quote.

The ASA acknowledged that the ad endorsed Mayweather, was not negative towards him and had been authorised by him. However, they considered that readers would still be offended by the suggestion of betting on a match based on a boxer’s race and that the ad suggested the match was a fight between two races.

The full ASA ruling can be accessed here.

bet365

A TV ad showed various different people undertaking activities (skiing on a mountain, at a rooftop bar, at a beach bar and in a stadium), all whilst using bet365. A voiceover stating “Not a single moment goes by when I cannot immerse myself entirely in sport. I can shout and scream in a hundred different stadiums all at the same time. I am a member of the world’s favourite online sports betting company and I gamble responsibly at bet365.”

A complaint believed this ad encouraged excessive gambling and challenged whether it was socially responsible. The ASA investigated the ad on the grounds of a potential breach of BCAP Code rules 17.3.1 or 17.3.4.

Bet365 stated that the ad, which showed four people using bet365 at different times and international locations, did not suggest that people were encouraged to gamble excessively. Since no bets were placed in the ad, bet365 suggested that there was no evidence that people in the ads were gambling excessively but it instead showed people living-streaming sports and using bet365 during their leisure time.

The ASA ruled in favour of bet365, considering that the ad emphasised bet365’s live-streaming capability and platform. Using different people who were live-streaming sport whilst performing leisure activities and who were not at work or with family (and the statement “Not a single moment goes by when I cannot immerse myself entirely in sport”), meant that the emphasis was on people at leisure watching sports rather than portraying gambling as indispensable. As such, the ASA did not consider that the ad breached the BCAP Code as it did not encourage socially irresponsible gambling behaviour or portray gambling as taking priority in life.

The full ASA ruling can be accessed here.