Poll results: Paddys overstepped the mark with Pistorius trial betting
Majority of eGR readers believe the operator went too far with campaign " however 39% supported its motives
Paddy Power took its cheeky and often controversial persona too far by offering bets on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial and subsequent ad campaign, the majority of respondents to this week’s eGaming Review have claimed.
Last week the Irish operator opened a market on whether or not Pistorius would be found guilty of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and later launched an ad campaign to coincide with the Academy Awards which depicted the Paralympic champion as an Oscar statuette along with the message ‘It’s Oscar Time “ money back if he walks’.
The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) later forced Paddys to remove its controversial ads and launched an immediate investigation into the operator’s conduct after the independent regulator received a record number of complaints.
With the operator’s latest round of mischief sparking huge controversy and dividing opinion, this week we asked eGR readers whether Paddy Power overstepped the mark.
More than half of respondents (54%) to the poll appeared to agree with the ASA’s stance, stating the campaign to be a gratuitous PR stunt, while just 7% believed the operator was only reacting to public demand.
However, a sizeable minority (39%) of readers felt the Paddys’ campaign shouldn’t be taken too seriously given its history of mischief-making.
A member of Paddys’ customer services team this morning confirmed it has now ceased accepting bets on the trial, deciding instead to concentrate its efforts on the biggest racing festival in the UK calendar which takes place next week.
“Yes [the Pistorius market] has been taken down completely as it has run its course. Time to concentrate on Cheltenham now,” he said.
The furore surrounding the campaign somewhat overshadowed Tuesday’s announcement of Paddy Power’s full-year financial results, which revealed a 10% rise in online profits.