Health Lottery ad "irresponsible", says ASA
Money-back TV ad deemed to "encourage" socially irresponsible gambling by advertising watchdog
The Health Lottery has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) for encouraging irresponsible gambling through an advert it ran on the Demand 5 video streaming service.
The advert was promoting the Health Lottery’s online direct debit offer, which offered players the first two weeks’ of play for free if they paid for their tickets monthly.
A voiceover on the ad stated: “This August save big money with the Health Lottery and our fantastic online direct debit offer. Just sign up online to play monthly by direct debit and we’ll refund your first two weeks’ play.”
Text on the screen read: “TWO WEEKS FOR FREE!”, and smaller text below stated “PAID FOR BY THE HEALTH LOTTERY”.
The voiceover also stated the Health Lottery would pay for up to 40 lines each draw, meaning up to £160 would be refunded to each customer should they play the maximum number of lines.
One complainant raised concerns whether the advert “condoned” and “encouraged” gambling behaviour that was “socially irresponsible” and could lead to financial harm.
In its response, the Health Lottery said that its player protection measures prevented direct debit and online players from purchasing more than 40 lines per draw.
With two draws a week, the lottery said the maximum monthly spend was £320, and that their £40 maximum play per draw “ensured there could be no excessive play on the Health Lottery”.
They also noted “such caps on spending amounts were rarely seen in the gambling industry, and other lotteries did not automatically impose playing limits on their draw-based games”.
The Health Lottery said the ad was “not intended to encourage excessive play” and the ad was subject to strict internal and compliance review, and carried the gambleaware.co.uk logo.
In its ruling the ASA said it considered the emphasis on the £160 refund “was likely to encourage” more customers to enter twice weekly draws “to their detriment in some cases”.
“We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and condoned and encouraged gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm,” the ASA said.
The Health Lottery was told the ad must not run again in its current form, and to ensure that future ads did not encourage irresponsible gambling.