The advertising of Batavia Casino is not seen by the Advertising Code Committee as the display of unrealistic chances of winning. Batavia Casino had an advertisement in which most players won. So it is allowed, the Advertising Code Committee judges.
We see different players in the commercial. Everyone plays from a smartphone, laptop or tablet. Four gamblers who win, to their delight, see an explosion of confetti shooting from their device. The only players who do not win are watched by a passing woman who does get a confetti shower herself. This advertising from Batavia Casino led to the complaint at the Advertising Code Foundation.
The complaint
Four of the five players win in the commercial of Batavia Casino. Someone found this misleading and reported the following complaint to the Advertising Code Foundation:
“The television commercial is misleading because it suggests that participants in the gambling game have a big chance to win the main prize or another Grand Prix. In advertising, a grand prize or a big prize is won in four of the five examples. Only in one case is lost. This is not the reality of participating in a gambling game. [...] By proposing that participants have a large chance of winning, the advertising is misleading and harmful to consumers in general and for people with a (construction) gambling addiction. ”
Complaint to Batavia Casino as summarized by the Advertising Code Foundation
The reaction of Batavia Casino
Batavia Casino felt called to defend itself against the Advertising Code Foundation. The defense was that players and potential players can make a great distinction between a humorous advertisement and reality. Batavia Casino expressed that as follows:
“It is not possible to see how a statement about the chance of winning could be derived from the relationship between the success moments and loss moments in the commercial. Nothing is said or suggested in the commercial about a chance of winning. "
Batavia Casino
"Insofar as the average consumer would nevertheless deduce a statement about a chance of winning from the commercial, considering the humorous and absurdist tone and content of the commercial, it is clear that it is not intended to give serious insight into the chance of winning."
Batavia Casino
Batavia also cited a case where the Advertising Code Committee in 2019 its opinion on Velde. The same case was ratified in the following year by the Board of Appeal. It was then an advertisement from the Staatsloterij on social media. There was talk of advertising an unrealistic chance of winning.
The point of discussion in this commercial was a wheel on which one could turn. The areas were so divided that the chance of winning seemed larger than actually the case. According to Batavia Casino, this case cannot be compared with its own case. In the commercial of Batavia Casino, no suggestion is made about the chances of winning.
The decision of the Advertising Code Committee on Batavia Casino
The complaint is unfounded according to the Advertising Code Committee. There is no conscious suggestion about the chance of winning:
“This complaint cannot succeed. The average consumer will understand that the expression is only intended to draw attention to the advertiser's online games of chance in a playful way, without a serious picture of the winning chances, which is also apparent from the Explosion of Confetti from the devices that are played. ”
Chairman Advertising Code Committee
Holland Casino and Toto went like American casinos Batavia Casino already in the dock. The Advertising Code Committee also rejected these complaints.
