ASA Clears National Lottery over Gambling Ad
Three National Lottery adverts saw a total of 24 complaints filed to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), but after an investigation, the ASA has cleared the lottery operator of any wrongdoing.
The three adverts were a long-form advertisement and two shorter versions of the same ad, which told the story of a family who had bought a new house after winning a big prize on the National Lottery.
Complainants claimed that the advert suggested that taking part in the lottery game could be a way to solve financial issues.
Defence
Camelot, operator of the National Lottery, countered this argument, saying the footage was shot in a working fishing village, and depicted a hard-working family who had grafted and done their best to make ends meet before winning the prize.
Camelot added that the original house shown in the advert did not suggest the family had been in financial difficulty before the win, and that the new home purchased in the ad was not huge and luxurious, but a family home set in the same village, available for a “modest sum”, which did not suggest the win was a jackpot win, merely one that aided in the buying of a new house.
ASA Ruling
When making their ruling, the ASA stated the ad “[did not] imply that participating in the lottery had been a solution to financial concerns for the family features, or that doing so could be a solution to financial concerns for others.”
The ASA also denied the suggestion that the ad suggested the wife was leaving her husband before the win, with the reveal actually being that the wife was setting up the newly bought home while the husband packed up the old family house.
No further action will be taken by the ASA in this case.