Ad Standards are High

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standard’s Authority has recently pulled an online casino’s advertising campaign. Recently the company Requestabet posted an ad on their website that claimed that betting at their online casino was as viable of an investment as investing on property, buying stocks, or anything of that nature. So the Advertising Standard’s Authority demanded that the company take down their ad and they also claimed that they were not in complying with the code of conduct for advertising in the United Kingdom. Online casinos are constantly under fire for their latest ways to get customers but this tactic just may have crossed the line.

Requestabet is owned by Sohi Capital Partners and is directed by Kulbir Sohi. Sohi who is a native of the United Kingdom said that he has not replied to several of the Advertising Standards Authority’s inquiries. One in particular is when the Authority asked Sohi to substantiate his own claim of the 13 per cent return. The online casino operator has likely enjoyed the press attention that his website is getting. But this is not the first time that the Advertising Standard’s Authority has had to step in and remove the ads placed out into the world by online casinos. A couple of months ago the ASA had to step in and remove an ad placed by Ladbrokes when they likened gambling at their online casino to swimming with sharks.

A media analyst, Howard Bunker took some time to comment on the online casino advertisement issue. Bunker said, "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." The operator of the online casino in question, Sohi stated, "You must be interested in getting a decent return for your money, and are looking for alternative methods to generate those returns as opposed to the traditional forms of investment."