GeoLotto advert "misleading", says ASA
Advertising Standards Authority says TV ad could mislead players into thinking they were entering a lottery and not a gambling game
Zeal Network subsidiary GeoLotto has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a “misleading” television advert it ran following the launch of its location-based draw game in the UK.
The advert showed a number of people seeing a bright light and then a shower of cash tumbling down onto them.
A voiceover stated: “This Saturday night, millions of pounds will be landing all over Britain, in the all-new GeoLotto.com game. Go to GeoLotto.com now, claim your lucky place for just £1, and be in with a chance of winning up to one million pounds!
“You can choose anywhere – from a famous landmark to your own home. Of course, if you don’t claim your lucky place, you can’t win diddly. GeoLotto.com. Millions of pounds are coming. Don’t miss out.”
One complainant said they understood the product was a gambling game and challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied it was a lottery.
In its response GeoLotto said it “had never promoted a lottery” and the ad “clearly represented the key features of the game”.
GeoLotto said the ad specified that participants had to be aged 18 or over, and noted that players had to be aged 16 or over to take part in a lottery.
The firm also said it had included the Gamble Aware website link in the ad, and did not believe the script or visual were likely to mislead about the key features of the game.
Ad clearing agency Clearcast said the GeoLotto ad “clearly explained the mechanism of the game and how the consumer won prizes” and that “they did not believe the ad was misleading about the game or how it was played”.
But in its ruling the ASA said claims that “millions of pounds will be landing all over Britain” and “claim your lucky place for just £1” in conjunction with the word “lotto” would “give the impression the ad was promoting a lottery”.
“We considered that the visuals, voice-over and on-screen text that associated the product with a lottery featured consistently throughout the ad,” the ASA said.
“Because we considered the ad implied participants would be playing a lottery, not participating in a gambling game, we concluded it was misleading,” it added.
GeoLotto was told the ad could not run again in its current format and was told to ensure that future ads did not misleadingly imply players were entering a lottery.
GeoLotto parent company Zeal Network recently rebranded from its previous guise of Tipp24.