Sky Vegas Criticised By the ASA Over Affiliate Promotion

Sky Vegas have come under attack from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over an advert which it has described as “irresponsible”. The advert, which was created by an affiliate, was deemed to be in breach of advertising standards rules surrounding advertorials which target young and vulnerable people. 888casino, Ladbrokes, and Casumo were also censured for the same promotion.

A Rags to Riches Story

The controversial ad in question followed the story of William who was supposedly £130.000 in debt due to his ill wife’s mounting medical bills. Titled ‘On Their Wedding Night He Delivered a Secret She Wasn’t Ready For. The Result Will Have You In Tears’ the article goes on to claim that William discovered an advertisement for an online gambling website that allowed him to win thousands of pounds and pay off his wife’s medical bills before taking her on holiday to Bora Bora.

In the Sky Vegas version of the ad the article read: "A little tired and admittedly a bit depressed, William stumbled upon an ad for Sky Vegas… With little to no money to spend he admits he laughed and almost scrolled past it until he saw they were offering a promotion that would reward him with £10 free at The Jackpot 7 Game which at over £700,000.00 was too hard to pass up.". At the very least the ad was in very poor taste and at its worst it preys on some of society’s most vulnerable people.

“Irresponsible”

The ASA received 9 complaints in total in relation to the ad which appeared on the 24hournews and casinohacks websites. The advertising watchdog deemed the adverts to be irresponsible as they suggested that gambling could provide an escape from personal problems such as debt and depression. The ASA stated: “The ad must not appear again in its current form”, adding that each company’s “future ads, including those prepared by affiliates, must be clearly identifiable as marketing communications and to take care to ensure their ads were prepared in a socially responsible way.” As a result of the complaints and the ASA’s ruling all 4 gambling companies terminated their agreements with the affiliate in question, stating that the advert breached the terms and conditions of their agreements.

Sky’s Response

A spokesperson for Sky Vegas said: “This advert was created by an affiliate without any knowledge or input from Sky Betting & Gaming. When we were notified of it we immediately terminated our agreement with the affiliate involved. Since then we have announced the closure of our affiliate programme to give us more control over our marketing outputs and ensure instances like this don’t happen again."

About Sky Vegas

Since 2008 Sky Vegas has been providing a top quality online casino experience. At Sky Vegas players have the choice of 130 games with everything from slots and table games to video poker and live casino available to play. Sky Vegas is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission in the UK by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission in all other countries. Sky Vegas is operated by the British broadcasting corporation BSkyB.