Online casino Karamba.com has been reprimanded by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority following two complaints made about a web page concerning online slot Starburst.
Under a page headed “Tips and tricks on how to Win at Starburst”, the text asked “can you influence your luck while playing?” and invited readers to “discover the top tips and tricks for winning”.
A “strategy” page stated “the top 5 tips for winning” including the advice that “wins at the minimum bet rate are much less frequent and pay out significantly smaller sums”, “tests have also proven that it is possible to change your luck if you find things aren’t going your way” and “playing at off-peak times could earn you higher winnings”.
Also included was a link to a different page titled How to Choose a Winning Slot Machine”, with further advice on increasing the chances of winning slot games.
The ASA ruling was made following complaints that the ad misleadingly implied that particular strategies would increase the chances of winning and was socially irresponsible because it encouraged gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm.
AG Communications, operating the games on the website, stated that the challenged web pages were uploaded to the Karamba website because of human error, and had not gone through their usual internal procedure for the approval of marketing materials to ensure that all content complied with the applicable regulations.
They also said the web pages in question attracted low levels of user traffic, which contributed to them slipping under the radar of the ongoing compliance monitoring. Karamba.com said they had withdrawn the challenged ads, commenced a full internal review in order to duly address the issue and reiterated their approval procedure to staff.
Upholding the first complaint, the ASA considered that customers would understand the “tips and tricks” claims and that they had not seen any evidence to back them up, therefore considering them to be unsubstantiated and misleading. On that point, the ad breached the CAP Code.
The ASA also stated that considering “the claims on the website that suggested higher bets increased the chances of winning, that a consumer’s luck could change if they had not been winning, and that other strategies could improve the chances of winning, condoned and encouraged irresponsible gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm”. This too breached the Code.
The ASA’s assessment read: “The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Karamba.com to ensure their future marketing communications contained nothing that was likely to encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm. Additionally, future marketing communications must not misleadingly imply that particular strategies improved a consumer’s chances of winning Starburst when that was not the case, and Karamaba.com must hold adequate substantiation in support of such claims.”
