ASA Ruling on Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a Betfred
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Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd - ASA | CAP 17/04/2019, 17*38
ASA Ruling on
Petfre (Gibraltar)
Ltd t/a Betfred
Not Upheld | Television
| 17 April 2019
Ad description
A TV ad for Betfred, seen 20 January 2019, featured a
woman in the bath, a man preparing a meal and a
woman exercising all while playing online bingo on
mobile devices. The voice-over stated, “Love to chill in
the bath? Make it a thrill and a laugh with Betfred
bingo. Forget those two little ducks, soak up the action
and win big bucks. You can even join in whilst making
the tea with games from as little as just 1p. Play with
Betfred bingo and enjoy top promotions such as daily
free bingo games, bonus back and more. Put the fun
back into house. Kick back and bingo with Betfred”.
Issue
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The complainant, who believed that showing
characters gambling while carrying out everyday
activities normalised gambling, challenged whether
the ad was irresponsible.
Response
Petfre (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a Betfred said that the ad did
not suggest that people should play bingo excessively
or that it should take priority over any other social
interaction. They said the ad did not promote high-
stakes gambling, nor did it present any unrealistic
positive or negative emotions which insinuated harm.
Betfred said there was no suggestion the people
featured spent an excessive amount of time or money
gambling. They said gambling was not shown as the
sole activity being undertaken at home and therefore
that it would not be perceived as taking priority over
daily life. Instead, they were featured enjoying playing
bingo as part of their leisure time, participating in
bingo while undertaking activities that people would
participate in independently during their day-to-day life.
Betfred said that while bingo was featured in a range
of activities, the ad did not imply it was important to be
able to gamble during them all. Rather, it was a
depiction of varied leisure activities of different
audiences and demographics, and was not one person
gambling throughout a range of daily activities.
Betfred did not believe that gambling was portrayed
as: indispensable; that being something that was so
good that people could not live without it; or that
people’s enjoyment of life is altered by it. They said the
act of gambling in the ad didn’t enhance or detract
from the players’ enjoyment of their chosen activity.
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Betfred said they did not show characters who were
isolated from family, friends, work or education and
they did not believe they insinuated that participation
in bingo was favourable over social time.
Betfred said they did not portray gambling as a taboo
or forbidden act which people should be ashamed of
or hide, given that could insinuate vulnerability or
control issues with the player featured. They said the
ad promoted the community aspect of their bingo by
showing chat names for each character and social
interaction within the chatroom itself.
Clearcast said the three people seen in the ad were
shown gambling once and on separate occasions,
which ensured the same person was not seen
gambling multiple times in different scenarios. They
also said the stakes shown were small and that free
games were mentioned alongside “games from as
little as 1p”.
Clearcast did not believe that gambling in the ad was
shown as indispensable. They said the ad’s voice-over
did not state that you must gamble whilst doing other
things, but showed how people could also ]t bingo
into their daily activities. They said the characters were
shown gambling while taking part in everyday
activities, but that no one was shown in a situation
where they were ignoring family, friends or
professional or educational commitments. They did
not believe the Code precluded people being seen
gambling by themselves whilst undertaking relaxing
activities or going to the gym, if they were not shown
gambling excessively.
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Assessment
Not upheld
The BCAP Code stated that marketing
communications for gambling must not portray,
condone or encourage gambling behaviour that was
socially irresponsible or could lead to ]nancial, social
or emotional harm. It also stated that marketing
communications for gambling must not portray
gambling as indispensable or as taking priority in life,
for example over family, friends or professional or
educational commitments.
The ASA considered the ad focused on how people
could gamble using Betfred bingo while also
undertaking tasks or leisure activities around the
house. The characters taking a bath and exercising
were shown playing bingo in conjunction with doing
those tasks, rather than instead of them. Gambling
was therefore not portrayed as taking priority over
those tasks or as indispensable. During the section
showing the character preparing a meal, he was seen
throwing food in the air when he realised he had won a
prize. While we considered the character’s
exaggerated reaction to winning showed he was brieby
distracted from his task, again we did not consider
that this scene portrayed gambling as taking priority in
life.
We concluded that the ad did not portray, condone or
encourage gambling behaviour that was socially
irresponsible, or portray gambling as indispensable or
as taking priority in life.
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We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules
17.3.1 and 17.3.4 (Gambling) but did not ]nd it in
breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
BCAP Code
17.3.1 17.3.4
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