SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Camelot has been wrapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after the UK lottery operator placed a scratchcard outside the entrance of a school.
The ad in question featured an image of a rainbow scratch card with the text “Scratch and See … Top prize £50,000 Lucky Fortune … 7 CHANCES TO WIN! £2”.
Issuing its response, Camelot outlined that its policy was that National Lottery ads should not be placed within 100 metres of a school. Further detailing that the ad was placed using a database which was supposed to identify and remove schools from potential locations using postcode data.
Camelot confirmed that, on this occasion, the postcode database failed to identify the school. Camelot took action to address this by ensuring the ad had been removed and they now used a different database tool which looked at the geographical boundaries of schools, rather than postcode data, to ensure that ads were not placed within 100 metres of a school.
In conclusion the ASA emphasised: “The CAP Code stated that marketing communications for lotteries should not be directed at those aged under 16 years through the selection of media or context in which they appear.
“The ad was for a National Lottery scratch card which was placed directly outside the entrance of a school. The ASA was concerned by the proximity of the poster to the school and considered that the audience of the ad would likely be significantly skewed towards under-16s and because of that it was directed at children through the context in which the ad appeared. We therefore considered that the placement of the ad breached the Code.”
It added: “The ad must not be displayed again in close proximity to a school. We told Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd t/a National Lottery to ensure that their lottery ads were not directed at children under 16, including that they were not displayed in close proximity to a primary or secondary school.”
