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Profit Accumulator’s Matched Betting Ad Deemed "Irresponsible" and Banned By ASA
March 12, 2020 Kristina Vujadinovic
The UK’s advertising standards authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against matched betting service Profit Accumulator. By the allegations, the company has made suggestions that matched betting could be a solution to financial problems in its ad, which goes against the rules of gambling advertising.
When it comes to gambling, everyone included in this industry has to obey a rigorous rule for marketing products and services. There is no wiggle room and adds have to be in correspondence to the regulations.
Under the watchful eye of the ASA, the commercials are closely monitored. Any ad containing even the slightest note of promoting gambling bluntly is banned, like the recent case of Betway’s advert.
All the mediums and social network are monitored, which Profit Accumulator felt on its own skin. In fact, the Instagram posts were the ones that point ASA to its direction.
Instagram Posts That Led to The Complaint
Two posts on Profit Accumulator’s Instagram were more than enough to attract the attention of the ASA and its resulting actions.
More specifically…
… the problem with the first post was an image with the text “Colossal Win 2,380.50” and the caption
“Absolutely amazing win from one of our 12 minutes ago,” followed by a series of hashtags: #makemoney, #makingmoney, #income, #makemoneyfromhome #students and #sahm, which is an abbreviation for stay-at-home mothers.
The second post is even more disputable, showing a review of the service that said, “In [one] month I have gone from a person struggling to stay afloat who is worrying about their MOT, bills etc to completely flipping my financial position. Could not have got to this position without match betting and without the guidance of Profit Accumulator.”
This one also included hashtags #workingfromhome #workingfromhomejobs #workingfromhome #earnmoney #earnmoneyonline.
Both of these ad posts have received a complaint. The complainant was arguing that they suggested matched betting as a potential way to achieve financial security which can’t be a part of gambling ads according to regulations.
Profit Accumulator Doesn’t See Eye To Eye With ASA On This Matter
Profit Accumulator didn’t deny that both ads included regarding making extra money.
However, the company said it “did not suggest that the product was an alternative to full-time employment.” The explanation was that the mentions of making extra money were fair because customers were extremely unlikely to lose money if they bettors correctly follow instructions.
The ASA, on the other hand, has a different view on the issue. It has upheld the complaint and ruled that the ads may not appear in their current forms again.
While it understood that Profit Accumulator’s service itself was not gambling provider because it simply “provided consumers with information on promotional offers,” it is still considered as a gambling product.
“Although we acknowledged that some consumers who made use of the service provided by Profit Accumulator would be exposed to gambling services, Profit Accumulator’s service was not itself gambling. However, we considered that the purpose of the service was to facilitate gambling and we therefore assessed the ads with that in mind,” said the ASA.
In the first ad, the authority pointed to the use of the hashtags #sahm and #students, with an argument that they are targeting those on lower incomes:
“We considered that the hashtags combined with the image of a large sum of money implied that Profit Accumulator’s service could be an alternative to employment or a way to achieve financial security. Although matched betting was not itself gambling, because its purpose was to facilitate gambling, we considered that this was irresponsible.”
Regarding the second ment…
… the use of the hashtags #workingfromhome and #workingfromhomejobs were of particular interest to the ASA since the customers would see the ad alongside similar for employment or work opportunities they could do from home.
In addition, the text of the review “suggested to consumers that using Profit Accumulator’s service could change a consumer’s financial position and be a solution to financial concerns” was also a breach of the marketing rules for the gambling industry according to ASA.
The UK’s advertising standards authority has issued a warning to Profit Accumulator to avoid suggesting matched betting as a possible solution to financial security in its ads.
Source:
“ASA bans “irresponsible” matched betting ad”, igamingbusiness.com, March 11, 2020.
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I think there are double standards when it comes to advertising rules since there are many more controversial adds then these Instagram posts. Sure, gambling addition is a very serious problem, but so is the drug abuse, and it seems to me that the commercials for all kind of medicines (even the dangerous ones) are up and running without any special supervision.