The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned ads displaying Spiderman, stating that children may be too tempted to play the games intended for adults.
Responsible Gaming is the best way to keep online gambling fun for all eligible to play. There are new tools like Playscan which allow players to track their gambling behavior but operators need to be more wary about what advertising they use.
Banned in the UK
Most recently, an advertisement that was put out by 888 Casino website was deemed too appealing to children because it featured Spiderman. The ASA watchdog agency banned this advertisement even though the games that it promoted was for the Marvel Series of online casino games which are becoming of the most-popular online. The ASA also warned 888 that they will need to stop such advertising as it may attract minors to start playing online casino games.
888 Casino may not be wrong with this advertising as Spiderman is a popular character appealing to people of all ages and not just children and furthermore, children not of age would not be able to register and play any of the online casino games available at their site. This did not change the minds of the ASA and the ad was removed.
Using any comic-book style advertising for online gambling is a definite breach of conduct code set forth by the Committee of Advertising Practice which has stomped out many other advertising campaigns from even the biggest online casinos like Betfred, William Hill and more.
All of the online casinos in the world have safeguards in place that would not allow children from being allowed to play any of the free or real-money games but groups like the ASA are in place to follow up on all things inappropriate or too appealing for children.
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