The problem of underage gambling has re-emerged in the United Kingdom. This time, the ASA, UK’s independent Advertising Standards Authority, is the one to voice concern and take legal action.
Advertisements of an online casino Monopoly game are expected to be banned, as the ASA found them breaching its code, reported The Guardian.
The ASA discovered that the recently published advert on a British daily online tabloid paper exposed the underage to gambling.
The ASA laid the blame on Monopoly’s widely-recognized mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags, the cartoon character that featured in the ad on the Mirror’s online website. The company considers the mascot to be tempting enough to encourage children to click on the ad’s link.
“We considered that Monopoly was a family game generally played by or with children, and that under-18s would therefore recognize and find the ad’s references to it appealing,” said the UK organization.
The Daily Mirror rendered commercial service to Monopoly casino, an online gambling venue operated by Gibraltar-based company Entertaining Play.
Given the fact that the casino operates under a logo of the same Rich Uncle Pennybags, as well as the ASA’s taboo, it will hardly see an influx of players in the near future – the hazard that served as an impetus to Entertaining Play to retaliate.
“The characters did not possess exaggerated features and did not mimic any style of cartoon character seen in current children’s programming,” said the company. Entertaining Play also added that it had taken measures to prevent minors’ appeal to the ad.
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