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ASA bans “irresponsible” betting system advert

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an “irresponsible” betting system ad.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld three complaints against a website advertising a system for online casino gambling.

Two of the complaints were for misleading claims and another complaint was for advertising gambling in an irresponsible manner.

The content of the ad

The website, MakeLifeIncome.com, which is owned by tipster Paul Coleman featured that read “I’ll Teach You How To Make £50-£100 or more a Day”; “No Work…No Hassle…No Risk”; “make £60 in the first hour” and “a system that’s guaranteed to pay.”

Content on the site also made claims that suggested the system being advertise was risk-free and could substitute normal income.

Text on the website said that the system being promoted “takes advantage of a glitch in the way online casinos work” and that it only applied to online casino games.

The complaints

The complaint challenged the advert on three grounds. The ad was challenged on the grounds that the claim the system being promoted was “risk-free” was misleading and unsubstantiated. The second challenge to the ad argued that the claims the system was unique, developed by Coleman and would only work with online casino games were also misleading and unsubstantiated.

The third part of the complaint argued that the advert was irresponsible as it suggested that gambling could replace traditional sources of financial income.

In response to the complaints, Coleman argued that the ad was “ designed to generate interest in an opportunity to make money from roulette and was based on his experience of using a system that he had developed”.

Coleman also said that based on the feedback he received from clients they had earned money using his system. He also said he “could not be responsible” if a client did not follow the rules. Coleman said that the web page that featured the ad would be removed and the system will not be sold going further.

Coleman’s site still advertises tips for horseracing and football.

The ASA’s ruling

The ASA upheld the three complaints made against the ad for Coleman’s system.

Regarding the complaint made about guaranteed profits, the ASA said Coleman “had not provided any evidence to demonstrate that any users of the system had been successful and achieved profits.”

The ASA added: “We concluded that the claims for the system’s success and profitability had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.”

For the claim that the system was unique, the ASA said Coleman did not provide “any evidence to demonstrate how his system worked, how it differed from other gambling systems or how the method was exclusively designed for non-traditional casinos.”

The advertising body also ruled that the ad suggested gambling could act as an alternative to employment and traditional ways to generate an income. The ASA sad: “We concluded that the ad promoted a gambling service as an alternative to employment and a way to achieve financial security, and was therefore socially irresponsible.”

The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form and Coleman was warned that he must produce device to support the claims made in the ad. He was also warned against promoting gambling as an alternative to employment.

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