Requestabet Ad Nailed by A.S.A.

February 27, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — Requestabet.com has become the latest online gambling advertiser to fall victim to the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority's stringent requirements, and has been ordered to withdraw an advertisement comparing online gambling to investments such as the stock market and banking.
 
The ad consisted of a poster linking football betting to other choices such as buying stocks or investing in property, suggesting betting as a viable alternative.
 
The ASA found that the ad was unsuitable because it portrayed gambling as a viable way to increase savings.
 
Media analyst Howard Bunker blogged: "Ads linking gambling and casinos to buying homes and stock shares should be seen as tongue-in-cheek. The ad does not necessarily convey that gambling will increase one's wealth, but points out the irony of believing that other choices are safe and prudent."
 
Bunker made the sarcastic but perhaps not entirely invalid observation that it would be hard for a skilled gambler to lose as high a percentage of individual wealth as mutual fund managers have been able to do over the last year! He also took the ASA to task for not allowing tongue-in-cheek humor to play a big enough role in gambling advertisments.