Jackpotjoy TV ad "misleading", says ASA
Advertising Standards Authority says TV ad could mislead players into thinking they could win a £10,000 jackpot every hour of the day
Gamesys subsidiary Profitable Play has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a âmisleadingâ TV ad it ran for its Jackpotjoy brand.
The ad featured balls, which had â£10,000â written on them, slung into the air and landing where people were using mobile devices, before exploding and covering the people in gold glitter.
Actress Barbara Windsor then stated: âup to 10,000 jackpots every hourâ while on-screen text stated: âup to £10,000 every hourâ with on-screen text stating: âMax individual Jackpot Hero prize £1,000. Min 13 games/dayâ.
Two complainants, who had discovered that prizes were awarded at random intervals between 13 and 15 times a day, challenged whether the claim âup to £10,000 every hourâ was misleading.
In its response, Profitable Play said it considered the number of times the Jackpot Hero message appeared each day to be a âsignificant termâ because it was âfixed at between 13 and 15 per dayâ.
They also said that the Jackpot Hero message did not appear more than once in any hour, which supported the âevery hourâ claim made in the ad, and the Jackpot Hero message appeared during the âcore gaming hoursâ to ensure that they would reward the largest number of consumers.
Ad clearing agency Clearcast said it questioned whether âevery hourâ could mislead, but said Jackpotjoy had âexplained that there would be a minimum of 13 gamesâ and that a game would be available âevery hour during the core gaming hoursâ.
But the ASA reached a different conclusion, and said in its ruling that it understood a number of consumers were active on the site outside of the core gaming hours, and those users âwould believe they would be able to win a jackpot at any timeâ.
âWe considered that viewers would interpret the claim âevery hourâ to mean there would be at least one jackpot each hour, for the entire 24-hour period,â the ASA said.
âWe considered that the qualification âmin 13 games/dayâ contradicted rather than clarified the claim, and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading,â it added.
Profitable Play was told the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.