The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has taken action against two paid-for adverts for online casino 32Red.

Two ads, seen on April 25, 2019, were found to be likely to appeal to children and directed at those aged below 18 years of age through the selection of media or context in which they appeared.

32Red confirmed that the ads were served as part of a group of ads which were targeted to Google users who used search terms which corresponded with the names of 32Red games, such as “Jack and the Beanstalk”. They said they classified the Jack and the Beanstalk game as a high risk game, which meant that visitors to their website would not be able to see the game listed unless they had been age-verified. However, in this instance the Jack and the Beanstalk game had been included on their website’s list of slot games in error.

They said they removed the ads as soon they were brought to their attention and also checked that other high-risk games also were not being actively advertised. They had put in place steps to ensure that any such high-risk titles did not appear in keyword lists for ad targeting in future.

The ASA considered that because it was a highly popular classic children’s fairy tale, the inclusion of a reference to Jack and the Beanstalk meant that the ads were likely to be of particular appeal to children. The ads were served to those who entered “jack and the beanstalk” into the search engine. Because it was a highly popular classic children’s fairy tale, it considered that there was a strong possibility that this search term would be input by children, or adults who were accompanied by a child.

The ASA therefore considered that, by targeting ads to search engine users who used that term, 32Red had not specifically and carefully targeted the ad only at those aged 18 or over and had therefore directed gambling ads to those aged under 18 years of age.

The ASA stated: “We welcomed 32Red’s action in swiftly removing the ads, but concluded they had breached the Code. On that point, ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 16.1, 16.3, 16.3.12 and 16.3.13 (Gambling).

“The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told 32Red Ltd to ensure their gambling ads did not have particular appeal to those aged under 18 years of age and were not directed at those aged below 18 years of age through the selection of media or context in which they appeared.”