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Poker.co.uk - Poker News Archive
Friday 25th September 2009 ASA Criticises Betfair
Leading British online betting exchange operator Betfair Limited has fallen foul of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) due to an e-mail advert featuring leading poker professional Annette Obrestad.
The communication featured a photograph of 20-year-old Obrestad with text that read ‘online experience is measured in games, not years. Join the new breed’.
One complainant objected to the ad because they believed it might encourage children and young people to gamble while the ASA challenged whether the campaign had breached the gambling provisions of its code as Obrestad was below 25 years of age.
Betfair stated that it did not target its marketing at under-18s and did not believe that its ad would encourage children and young people to gamble due to the media selection used to distribute the e-mail and the technical measures it uses on its site.
It stated that Obrestad has been featured in its communication not because of her age but because of her standing as a poker professional and champion who had ‘had a profound effect on the game’. Betfair said that the Norwegian, at 20, was an adult and was outside the definition of a child or a young person under the ASA’s code and the UK’s Gambling Act.
However, the ASA disagreed and ruled that Betfair must not run the communication again. The watchdog stated that ‘marketing communications should not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture’.
“We considered that Ms Obrestad's online handle in the ad, ‘Annette_15’, together with text…implied that Ms Obrestad was even younger than she was,” read the ASA’s judgement.
“Because of that, we concluded the ad was likely to have particular appeal to children and young people, and that, by representing a successful young poker player with the implication she was 15 years old, it could encourage young people to gamble and was, therefore, irresponsible.”
On the second point, the ASA stated that Betfair had breached its code by featuring someone in a marketing communication under the age of 25 gambling or ‘playing a significant role’.
“Because Ms Obrestad was 20-years-old and because, as a professional poker player, she played a significant role in gambling in the ad, we concluded the ad breached the provisions of the code,” read the ASA’s judgement.
”We told Betfair to ensure that no one who was, or seemed to be, under 25-years-old appeared gambling or playing a significant role in their ads going forward.”
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46921.htm
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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