888 Ladies Bingo ‘Golden Ticket’ Ads Banned By ASA

888 Ladies Bingo back in January of this year launched their Golden Ticket Promotion and released two individual television advertisements to help promote it; one was around 30 seconds long and the other 10 seconds long.  The advertisements stated that the top prize in their Golden Ticket bingo game was £5 million pounds which led to one person making a complaint to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority).

The 30 second advert promoting the Golden Ticket offer featured a voice over saying “When you win a golden ticket at 888 ladies bingo, you’re so close to the millions, you can start practicing” and “”Simply play bingo and you could win loads of golden tickets to our massive £5-million game. Go to 888ladies.com now”.

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This led to one unknown viewer making a complaint to the ASA as they believed the ad was misleading because they felt that it exaggerated the amount that a player could win.  Cassava Enterprises who own 888 Ladies Bingo said that they believed that they did not mention anything about a guaranteed maximum prize fund but concentrated on the online bingo players being able to earn entry into the bingo game by winning a golden ticket.

Clearcast who give the ok to each and every television advertisement that is shown on TV in the UK, agreed with Cassava and said that it was advertising the fact players had to have a golden ticket to enter the game.

The ASA listened to Cassava and the Clearcast arguments but still decided that 888 Ladies Bingo Golden Tickets adverts breached TV Advertising Code Rules and therefore would not appear on air again in its current form.  That is probably no skin off the nose of Cassava Enterprises as the promotion ended over four months ago.