ASA Bans Casumo Casino Sponsored Ad For ‘Irresponsible Targeting’
A sponsored ad for Casumo Casino has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for “irresponsible targeting”.
Casumo Casino has been reprimanded over a sponsored ad promoting the casino site which appeared when users searched for “how to unsubscribe from all gambling” on Google back in May 2019. The ad’s heading read “Welcome Bonus to New Players Casumo 100% and 30 Free Spins” with additional text reading “Create an Account & Play Now”.
A complaint was made to the ASA suggesting that the sponsored ad was “irresposibly targeting” gamblers searching for information on self-exclusion. Before the casino operator received the complaint, Casumo said that ads on Google were targeted at users who search for terms such as “gambling”.
The operator also explained that it has a list of excluded terms or phrases to prevent its advertisements from appearing to individuals who search for specific combinations on Google. Unfortunately, the phrases or terms used by the complainant had not been included in the excluded search terms.
Casumo also considered that the term “unsubscribe” was associated with being removed from mailing lists to no longer receive emails or posts. They stressed that their view of the meaning of the term meant they had not targeted the ad in an irresponsible manner since the term used was associated with marketing or advertising rather than self-exclusion.
The Outcome Of The Complaint
After receiving the complaint, Casumo made the search term inactive and added the terms used by the complainant to its excluded terms and phrases list. In its ruling, the ASA noted that Casumo had taken immediate action but that the ad has targeted users irresponsibly. The operator was told that the advertisement must not appear again.
The ASA said in a statement: “Because we considered there was a strong possibility that vulnerable consumers seeking to prevent exposure to gambling ads, and access to gambling websites, might have been served a gambling ad following a search for ‘how to unsubscribe from all gambling’, we concluded that the ad had not been responsibly targeted.”
The news comes just days after Casumo Casino launched a series of brand new promotions to celebrate the operator’s seventh birthday. As we reported earlier this month, the promotions allow users to win a share of £7,777, claim seven free spins for logging in between particular dates, win up to £7,000 with the casino’s £7K Reel Race.
Players can also win up to £7,777 by being the first to complete a certain action in a Casumo live casino Blackjack game. Users who wish to participate in the promotion can click here to find out how to enter and potentially win all of the above cash prizes.