UK Lottery Rapped On Knuckles for Excessive Ads

The UK National Lottery has landed itself in hot water with the country's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for an email-based marketing campaign that allegedly 'encouraged people to gamble excessively'. The ASA reviewed the campaign after receiving complaints from the public.

It found that Camelot, the UK National Lottery's parent company, had used misleading language in the email ad campaign which was geared towards encouraging people to gamble more. The ASA claims that Camelot breached social responsibility guidelines by light-heartedly encouraging excessive gambling.

The offending emails were only sent to UK National Lottery fans who opted to receive them. Many were written in an amusing 'tongue in cheek' style. For instance, one of the email's read: 'So unless you've been abducted by aliens … you'll need a very good excuse for not playing every week - need an excuse?'

But it was the following sentences that attracted the complaints: 'The more you play the more likely you are to win' and 'Give yourself even more of a chance by playing multiple lines at once and playing for the Saturday and Wednesday draws.' The ASA claimed that the emails also implied that gambling is indispensable.

In response to being told to stop sending the offending emails, Camelot responded with this statement: 'The email campaign was designed to stress some of the advantages of playing the Lottery interactively and mentioned features like automated ticket checking, advance play and win notifications.