The ASA prohibits five social casino advertisements for suggesting that players could win real money prizes.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned advertisements from five social casino brands for implying that players could win and withdraw real money from their games.

The companies involved—SpinX Games Ltd, Dataverse Co Limited, Huuuge Global Limited, Mobee Co Ltd, and Zeroo Gravity Games LLC—had their ads pulled by the regulator. All of these ads were paid promotions on TikTok and failed to clearly indicate that they were for social casino games, misleading consumers into thinking real money could be won.

For example, Zeroo Gravity Games’ Cash Tornado app featured slot gameplay visuals and matching sound effects. The ASA determined that language like “hitting the jackpot” was associated with gambling, potentially leading bettors to misinterpret the nature of the games.

All five companies were found in violation of the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code). Specifically, they breached rule 3.1, which prohibits marketing communications from being “materially misleading,” and rule 3.3, which requires that ads do not mislead by omitting key information.

Additionally, Mobee was found to have violated rule 1.7 due to its failure to respond to ASA inquiries, which the regulator noted as an “apparent disregard” for the CAP Code and an unreasonable delay in addressing the matter.

The ASA has banned the ads from being aired in their current form and warned the companies to avoid implying that players could win real money or tangible rewards in social casino games.

This action is part of the ASA’s broader effort to scrutinize paid gambling ads that may mislead consumers. TikTok, which has its own restrictions on social casino advertising, including a ban on content implying real money winnings, removed all the offending ads from its platform.

In a similar case, bookmaker Geoff Banks Online was warned by the ASA in July for a misleading promotion that failed to disclose a key condition about bettors needing to reply to a text message to qualify for an offer.