UK gaming operators Flutter Entertainment and William Hill have been flagged by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after ads promoting gambling services from the two firms apparently surfaced on an app used by children in the United Kingdom.
An advertisement endorsing Betfair Bingo, one of Flutter Entertainment’s online gambling platforms was seen doing the rounds during February 2019 on the Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem app.
This application largely targets minors and young fans of the Warner Brothers’ children cartoons.
William Hill faces a similar debacle as its promotions for its William Hill Vegas brand were also placed on the same app during the month of Feb.
Flutter Entertainment released a statement in which it expressed that it had no intention of deliberately trying to market to minors, explaining that it was Tapjoy – its mobile engagement partner who had wrongly placed the ad. The regulator’s investigation reveals that the publisher of the Looney Tunes game, Scopely, had erroneously selected the mature-plus level in agreeing to highlight advertising materials in-app.
Upon realizing that it had inadvertently exposed children to promotional gambling content, Scopely immediately asked Tapjoy to take the ads down. The fiasco has led to Flutter Entertainment terminating its contract with Tapjoy. All parties have vowed to ensure that a similar situation will not happen in the future.
Meanwhile, William Hill has decided to blacklist the Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem app entirely, pinning the blame on the game’s publishers. With the heavy-handed directive, William Hill is guaranteeing that no promotions of theirs will ever appear on the game going forward.
In an attempt to clear its name, Tapjoy has reasoned that the Looney Tunes brand and its popular characters – among them Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird – go back to as early as the 1930s and 40s. The point being made by Tapjoy was to highlight the fact that many adults like playing these games to relive their childhood memories.
The company has disclosed that commercials promoting the Dunder Casino app of MT SecureTrade and Annexio’s LottoGo EuroMillions have also been mistakenly blasted on the Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem app.
On account of the game’s UK Google Play PEGI 7 rating, denoting that it contains content only suitable for viewers and players seven or older, the ASA has taken a firm stance behind its complaint, noting that the cartoonish nature of the app is enough to validate that its main audience are children under 18.
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