ASA raps Lucky Go Studio over mobile advert

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a warning to Lucky Go Studio after ruling that an advert for its Lucky Goal mobile app breached a number of regulations.

The video advert in question appeared in an app in November last year, showing the mobile phone screen of someone ordering a pair of headphones on Amazon, but receiving a message saying their credit card had been declined.

On-screen text displayed at the same time stated: “Lucky Goal – Funny every day” and “New chances to Win Every Day”, as well as the user opening the Lucky Goal app, playing a game of roulette and winning $85.

A quiz was then shown where two questions answered correctly resulted in the user winning $100, before the user then went on to win $54 on a scratch card.

The advert ended with text stating: “LUCKY GOAL” and “PLAY. WIN. REDEEM” on-screen, with logos for both Amazon and PayPal underneath.

However, a complainant challenged whether the advert was misleading, because it exaggerated the chances of winning prizes when using the app.

Lucky Go Studio did not respond to ASA enquiries about the ad, which the ASA took to be a breach of its CAP Code, as this was construed as an unreasonable delay when a business is contacted about an advert. The ASA said it reminded Lucky Go Studio about its responsibility to respond promptly to enquiries and told them to do so in future.

The ASA said that from the ad, consumers would understand users of the Lucky Goal app stood a reasonable chance of winning the sums of money featured in the ad and that they would be able to redeem any money they won.

However, the ASA said it did not receive any information from the advertiser that demonstrated users had won and redeemed the sums featured. Due to this lack of this evidence, the ASA ruled that the claim had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.

The ASA said the ad breached CAP Code rules regarding misleading advertising, substantiation and exaggeration, ruling that the advert should not appear again in its current form.

The authority also informed Lucky Go Studio to ensure that it did not exaggerate the chances of winning a prize when using the Lucky Goal app and referred the matter to the CAP’s compliance team.