The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has upheld two complaints against JackpotJoy’s blue ball jackpot advert, which features The Queen of Bingo, Barbara Windsor. The television commercial claimed that players could win “up to £10,000 jackpots every hour”, as part of a promotion that ran between 26th December and 23rd January.
JackpotJoy Bingo misleading
However, the small print states that the prizes are actually only handed out at random, between 13 and 15 times a day, and not 24 times a day as suggested by the wording of the advert. Because of this, the two complainants both claimed that the advert was misleading. The ASA has investigated the complaints under BCAP Codes 3.1 and 3.10, which say that advertisements must not mislead, and they must state significant limitations and qualifications. JackpotJoy counter argued the complaint by saying that the advert made a number of references to the small print, which read “min/13 games/day” and that the prizes were awarded during “core gaming hours”. Unfortunately for the bingo site, the ASA didn’t agree with JackpotJoy and ruled that most people would interpret “every hour” to mean that there would be at least one £10,000 jackpot 24 times a day. They also said that the small print of min/13 games/day actually contradicting the claims in the advert, rather than supported it, and were told to ensure this didn’t happen again with future adverts. The ruling published on 6th May means that The Queen of Bingo and her blue balls won’t be broadcast on television in the same format any longer.