Another advert for new online sportsbook pulled

Recently launched Australian online sports betting operator Neds hit the local headlines again this week as its second television and social media advert in a month was banned by the Australian Standards Bureau following complaints by Financial Counselling Australia, a body that helps people with gambling problems..

Our readers may recall that two weeks ago one of a series of Neds “It’s Time to Bet” adverts was banned by the ASB; the advert showed construction workers dodging jobs in order to use their mobile phones to bet. The Financial Counselling Australia organisation was the complainant there too.

The latest ad to be withdrawn features a man getting into a lift full of office workers and quickly pressing all the buttons so the lift will open at all levels and make slower progress. The man winks at the man nearest to him and begins using his phone app to place bets.

The ASB board ruled the commercial promoted excessive gambling after it found the man acted with the expressed purpose of having more time to place bets.

Several other Neds adverts have been the subject of Financial Counselling Australia complaints but managed to survive after the ASB rejected them.

Lauren Levin, a director of FCA, said:

“We don’t think ordinary people think it’s OK to openly lie and deceive others in order to gamble,” she said, noting that a man openly sabotaging the other passengers’ lift trip by pressing all the buttons, so he had more time to gamble was unacceptable.

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