888 Ladies Bingo ASA Adjudication

Earlier in the year 888 Ladies Bingo held a special Golden Ticket game with a potential £5 million jackpot. The problem was that the odds of actually winning the advertised amount were so long they made the National Lottery look like a sure thing. One player took exception to the adverts and made a complaint and now we can bring you details of the 888 Ladies Bingo ASA Adjudication.

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Back in January 888 Ladies Bingo broadcast two different adverts to publicize their Golden Ticket game. There were two adverts, one lasting ten seconds and the other thirty but both revolving around the theme of a bingo player jumping up and down in excitement screaming about her win. This was accompanied with a voice over saying "When you win a golden ticket at 888 Ladies bingo, you're so close to the millions, you can start practising. Simply play bingo and you could win loads of golden tickets to our massive £5 million game. Go to 888 Ladies.com. now".

What the 888 Ladies Bingo advert failed to mention however was that the odds of winning the advertised amount were massive because for anyone to actually win the full £5 million that had to match the first 24 online bingo balls called. One player who saw this advert complained to the Advertising Standards Agency because they felt the adverts were misleading and exaggerated the likely amount of the winnings.

Cassava Enterprises, the company behind 888 Ladies Bingo argued that they did not make any claims about a guaranteed maximum prize but instead concentrated on the golden tickets side of the promotion. They stated that the adverts related to the free entry aspect of the game and not to any guaranteed prize amount. They went on to argue that a £5 million jackpot was technically possible but at no time did they say this amount would definitely be won. Finally Casaava felt that the language used in the adverts was familiar to consumers and likened the bingo promotion to the National lottery where the advertised jackpots were not guaranteed.

The ASA disagreed with this argument on the grounds that although the National Lottery details jackpots the prize structure differed significantly to the 888 Ladies Bingo game. The ASA understood that the £5 million was technically possible but the omission of the sliding scale was likely to exaggerate the value of the prize and encourage more players to take part, therefore these adverts were misleading and cannot be shown in this form at again.

Written by Mickey James

19th May 2010