Bet-at-Home Fails to Respond to ASA

[Gambler]

Due to a complaint about the contents of an ad run by the Bet-at-Home gambling group stating "Life is a Game" and including a woman's naked midriff and other suggestive images that allegedly portray women as sexual objects, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered that the ad may not appear in its current form.

The advertising watchdog posed certain questions to Bet-at-Home regarding the website banner ad which it feels was contrary to UK gambling laws and is disappointed that it has thus far received no reply from the gambling group.

The Advertising Standards Authority is deeply disappointed with Bet-at-Home's lack of response to the concerns raised by them and also expressed their disapproval of the gambling group's disregard for gambling codes in their website banner advertisement that appeared on charltonathletic-mad.co.uk.  The ASA has publicly reminded Bet-at-Home of its "responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries".

According to Charlton Athletic, whose website the banner appeared on, it did not feel that the ad breached the Code.  Athletic added that since it was an adult targeted ad for a bookmaker the site believed that the content of the ad was "entirely appropriate".

The ASA reported that they understood that the ad was for a betting website and that it was published on an unofficial fan website for Charlton Athletic but also noted that the complainant felt that the ad was offensive as it considers that it made a crude comparison between the game of handball and women's breasts.  The ASA also noted that the images were sexually explicit and bore no relation to the services offered.