Five social casino ads banned in UK

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has prohibited advertisements from five social casino companies: SpinX Games Ltd, Dataverse Co Limited, Huuuge Global Limited, Mobee Co Ltd, and Zeroo Gravity Games LLC. These companies were found to have violated the UK Code on Off-Broadcast Advertising (CAP Code), specifically rule 3.1, which requires that marketing messages must not be "materially misleading," and rule 3.3, which mandates that advertisements should not mislead by omitting essential information.

A thorough review of the advertisements revealed that they were paid content shared on social media platforms. The video content and descriptions did not adequately inform consumers that these were gambling games, thus misleading the audience. For instance, the game Cash Tornado from Zeroo Gravity Games included gameplay visuals and slot sounds, but used phrases like "hitting the jackpot," which could lead players to associate the content with gambling.

Additionally, the ASA noted that Mobee violated rule 1.7 by failing to respond to the Authority's inquiries, which they deemed a "blatant disregard" for the Code. Consequently, the ASA banned the advertisements in their current format, cautioning the companies against suggesting that customers could win real money or other tangible prizes by engaging with social casino games.