LottoGo Promotes a Misleading Prize Amount
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has recently received two complaints regarding a LottoGo advert. The first one expressed the public concern that LottoGo failed to explain that the rewards they offered were subject to US taxes. LottoGo advertised entry to the US lottery in July, stating that players could win the “MegaMillions £256 Million”. However, the complaint claimed that players could have never received the full payout due to the US taxes involved in the prize. LottoGo defended itself stating that it was an ordinary practice for the industry to advertise pre-tax potential rewards and that it was not possible for them to know the tax status of their players or their jurisdiction. The Advertising Standards Authority did not agree with LottoGo’s theory and asked them to clarify that all winnings featured in the advert were subjects to deductions. And while we are on the lottery topic, if you love to play it and you have your lucky numbers, you can check our list of the best lotto sites.
No Clarification on Players’ Participation in the Lottery
The second complaint received by the ASA stated that the advert did not make clear that players would be betting on the outcome of the lottery rather than actually participating in it. This issue has already been faced by other lottery sites in the UK and has become a recurring problem. In fact, back in 2017, LottoGo was fined £150,000 by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission for similar failures. According to the official UKGC press release:
“An operator who did not make it clear to consumers that they were betting on the outcome of a lottery draw and not actually taking part in a lottery is to pay £150,000 to socially responsible causes. Lotteries are different from other gambling products as a portion of proceeds must go to good causes. The Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) therefore consider it important that consumers are made aware of the type of gambling they are participating in.”
In defence to the newest accusations, LottoGo stated that they have used the words “bet” and “how to bet” in their advertisements. However, the ASA did not find that they were clear enough in the commercials and that players could easily be misled by their content. On this occasion, the lottery site managed to escape fine but was officially asked to take down its adverts and to rewrite them.
Rieves Scratchcards Appealing to Children
LottoGo was not the only website to become a subject of the ASA’s strict regulations. The Rieves lottery was also officially warned for using cartoon images that could be appealing to children on several scratchcards. The cards in question featured a bee, a pig, a banana and a cat, all in a cartoon-like style. Rieves, however, stated that they were not interested in targeting the young and vulnerable children. On their side, the ASA banned the ads and asked the Rieves to redesign their scratchcards in a way they would not call children’s attention. The recent actions are a part of the ASA and the UKGC’s ongoing efforts to control and regulate the gambling industry.
