This story is sponsored by 888 PokerA TV advert for 888’s PokerCam tables has been banned by UK regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA today upheld a viewer complaint that the ad breached its Code by linking gambling with seduction and sexual success. The UK ad body ruled the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.
The ad shows a man in front of his PC and turning on his webcam, with a voiceover including the statement: “You never know who you might meet at a poker cam table.” The ad showed various people waving at and interacting with him, including a group of three females and a woman in a bikini by a swimming pool.
In defence, 888.com owner Cassava Enterprises argued that the ad, cleared by independent advertising vetting body Clearcast, depicted the characters interacting on “a purely platonic level” and showed the site as a fun place where players could make new friends, or meet people they already knew.
The operator argued that the bikini-clad woman did not appear until after the voiceover said “You never know who you might meet…”, and that her attire was appropriate as she was being shown on holiday by a swimming pool, indicating how 888 Poker could be played anywhere.
Clearcast also endorsed 888.com’s comments, saying it did not believe the linked gambling to seduction or sexual success in any way, and merely showed different types of people in a range of locations having fun playing online poker with a webcam.
But the ASA remained of the view that the interactions between characters in the ad were not purely platonic, particularly noting the statement “You never know who you might meet at a poker cam table” and the “flirtatious and seductive” way the woman in the bikini took off her sunglasses, tilted her head and moved her shoulders as she raised the stakes. For the ASA, this all amounted to the ad linking gambling with seduction, in breach of the Code, leading to the ban handed down today.
For more on PokerCams and other 888 poker products, visit our 888 Poker review page.
I can see 888 getting in trouble very soon for infringing on other companies’ copyrights for webcam poker. These racy ads add to the infringement that they have and continue to do! Companies like Camasino have the rights for it, as I found on the internet, and I cannot see how gaming jurisdictions and 888 allow this type of activity!