TonyBet has been on the receiving end of criticism recently from Ireland’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for two sponsored advertisements that appeared on YouTube, both of which played down the potential harm of gambling.
In response, the iGaming operator has blamed a mobile affiliation partner for the placement of both adverts on YouTube – one depicting a man using his phone and making money while sitting on the toilet, the other showing a woman with a baby who is also stating she’s making money.
It was not made clear by TonyBet or the ASA whether the same mobile affiliation partner was used for both adverts.
Advert one
The first sponsored advertisement for TonyBet on YouTube ‘depicted a man using his phone while sitting on the toilet’ alongside wording which said “Only 3% of people can do this. Make money while sitting on the toilet”. A footnote also included a responsibility message and terms and conditions on the promoted offer.
In a complaint to the ASA, it was claimed that the advert showed that gambling was easy and played down its dangers.
TonyBet responded to the complaint by stating that they were fully committed to regulatory compliance in Ireland, with advertising guidance posted on its internal information page, as well as marketing campaigns being subject to a compliance review and approval via an internal ticketing system.
However, the operator noted that this advert was handled by a mobile affiliation partner and posted due to a mistake on their part and that they had ‘urgently discontinued non-compliant advertisements with immediate effect’.
The response said: “This partner was provided with Tonybet internal marketing compliance guidelines and staff training took place; however, the partner expanded their team and due to human error, one of the new employees did not check the created advertising templates against the guidelines before uploading them for distribution.
“They said that the partner did not warn them that the advertising material would be launched for YouTube and due to high workload, the Tonybet Marketing team missed the material in question and campaign managers launched the material automatically, assuming it has passed the multiple checks.
“They said that it was unfortunate that due to human error the particular advertising material was not submitted for compliance review and marketing guidance was not followed. They had raised compliance concerns to the management of the Marketing teams and the importance in following marketing compliance guidelines available.
“They said that an additional training session had been organised with relevant stakeholders as a matter of reminder in order to eliminate human errors in the future. Due to a gross violation of the rules, their Marketing department had reviewed their Material approval process and increased the approval steps from two to five and their continuation of the partnership with the affiliate would also be reviewed.”
After considering TonyBet’s response, the ASA has upheld the complaint, considering the advert in breach of its advertising code and stated that it must not appear again in its current form.
The authority highlighted that gambling marketing “should not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that is socially irresponsible or could lead to financial, social or emotional harm, portray gambling as indispensable or as taking priority in life or suggest that solitary gambling is preferable to social gambling”.
The ASA said that the advert included a suggestion that gambling was a substitute for working, saying that the statement ‘Make money while sitting on the toilet’ had strongly indicated that ‘gambling would be a source of income, and encouraging such a belief could lead to financial harm’.
Advert two
In the second sponsored advert on YouTube, a woman is shown holding a baby with included text which states “It’s hard to pay my rent and take care of my babies”.
The woman is shown again later in the video with her thumb up and text stating “But I made $8,500 last month”. A footnote with a responsibility message and terms and conditions on the promoted offer was also included.
Two complaints were received by the ASA: one stating that the advert “depicted gambling as financially beneficial”, the other saying it created a “dangerous impression that gambling could resolve personal or financial difficulties, had targeted vulnerable individuals and perpetuated dangerous stereotypes, potentially encouraging harmful gambling behaviours”.
The second complaint added that “depicting gambling as a means to escape or solve personal challenges could lead to an increase in gambling-related harm, especially among viewers who may already be facing financial or emotional struggles”.
Again, TonyBet said in its response that they are fully committed to regulatory compliance in Ireland, with internal information pages and ticketing systems in place and the advert was posted on YouTube due to a mistake by a mobile affiliation partner.
For advert two, human error was mentioned again by the operator within an almost identical response to advert one, again stating that the continuation of the affiliate partnership would also be reviewed.
Considering TonyBet’s response, the ASA upheld the complaint, considering the advert in breach of its advertising code and stated that it cannot appear again in its current form.
The ASA said: “The Council noted the requirements of the Code that marketing communications for gambling should not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that is socially irresponsible or could lead to financial, social or emotional harm, portray gambling as indispensable or as taking priority in life or suggest that solitary gambling is preferable to social gambling.
“The Council considered that the advertisement had positively depicted gambling. They considered the statement ‘I made $8,500 last month’ had strongly indicated that gambling would be a source of income, and encouraging such a belief could lead to financial harm.”
