The complainant challenged an ad on the site, titled “Tips and tricks on how to win at Starburst," outlining “The Starburst strategy.”
“The Starburst Strategy” ad claimed “wins at the minimum bet rate are much less frequent and pay out significantly smaller sums,” before going on to suggest “changing the cycle of the game to get back on the winning track by toggling the spin and max bet buttons. The bet rate will stay the same, but you may trigger more bonus features and, most importantly, wins.”
The ad was challenged on the grounds it implies certain strategies would increase the chances of winning on the slots and that it “was socially irresponsible because it encouraged gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm.”
According to AG Communications, which operates as Karamba.com, the web pages were uploaded to its website because of a human error and had not gone through the usual internal procedure for approval beforehand to ensure it complied with regulations.
Karamba also stressed there were very low levels of user traffic attracted by the ad and has since removed it.
The company is now commencing a full internal review, outlining its procedures for promotional material to staff.
In its ruling, the ASA said: “The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Karamba.com to ensure their future marketing communications contained nothing that was likely to encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm.”
