Ladbrokes's online casino broke advertising rules

By Martina Fuchs

LONDON (Reuters) - Gaming company Ladbrokes breached advertising standards in television commercials for its online casino which showed daredevil characters leaping to their deaths, the advertising regulator said Wednesday.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which received one complaint from a member of the public, said the adverts for ladbrokescasino.com "portrayed gambling in a context of toughness, and linked it to excessive risk taking and reckless behaviour."

Ladbrokes said in a statement the advertisements were light-hearted and humorous, and it would appeal against the decision.

The first commercial showed a diver who attached raw bacon and sausages to his wet suit and leapt into shark-infested water dressed in a seal costume. A character at the end of the clip said: "All we could bury was his flipper."

The second advertisement showed a sky diver jumping out of a plane using an empty crisp packet as a parachute.

Both clips finished with: "If only he'd seen ladbrokecasino.com it would have quenched his thrill buds."

Ladbrokes said the ruling was an incorrect application of the advertising standards rules, and effectively barred the use of humour in gambling ads.

John O'Reilly, managing director of Ladbrokes Remote Betting and Gaming, said: "Ladbrokes fully supports the code of practice relating to gambling advertising but this ruling is an example of political correctness going too far."