Coral reprimanded over advert that encouraged repeated gambling

Coral have been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it branded a social media advert “potentially harmful” for appearing to encourage repeated gambling.

The advert, which appeared on Twitter during March, contained a video and was captioned “Have another go”, highlighting the bookmaker’s offer of money back as a free bet, up to £10, if a punter’s selection failed to finish a race.

The video contained in the advert showed a jockey falling off his horse with a voiceover and text stating: “Get a free bet back with fail to finish”. The clip also showed a man appearing disappointed until he looked at his phone and smiled, before another voiceover added: “For the passion of the bet: Coral Racing.”

One complainant took issue with the advert, believing it “encouraged repeated gambling” and “challenged whether the ad was irresponsible”.

LC International Ltd t/a Coral stated it did not believe the advert encouraged repeated or socially irresponsible gambling, that consumers were not obliged to take up the offer and did not need to use additional funds to qualify for it and that there were links to GambleAware and use of the ‘When the fun stops, stop’ banner.

However, the complaint was upheld and in its ruling the ASA said: “We considered that the claim ‘Have another go’, together with the video ad which featured a man whose mood was instantly lifted following a free bet back, gave the impression that the decision to gamble had been taken lightly and was therefore likely to encourage some consumers to take up the offer repetitively.

“For that reason, we concluded that the ad was likely to encourage gambling behaviour that was potentially harmful and therefore breached the Code.”

The ASA also ruled the advert could not appear again in its current form and that Coral must not present promotions in a way that encourages repetitive gambling.

Complaints against a TV advert from Ladbrokes, in which everyday tasks had echoes of gambling, were not upheld by the ASA.

The ASA said: “The ad did not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that was socially irresponsible, or portray gambling as indispensable or as taking priority in life.”

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