ASA issues rulings on Play’n GO and Mecca Bingo advertisements

The UK Declaration Agency (ASA) has issued rulings on Play’n and Mecca Bingo.

ASA, the independent organization in the UK advertisements in all media, has eliminated that in two cases, companies were accused of attracting those under the age of 18, Play’n Go was in a breach of symbols that prohibit it, but Mecca Bingo was not. The two companies received both complaints managed by advertisements that would resume strongly for people under the age of 18.

As part of the ASA role to ensure that ADS adheres to the advertising symbols, the organization intervened to evaluate it. These symbols, written by advertising committees (CAP), aims to make all ads in the United Kingdom responsible and fair to both advertisers and consumers and include restrictions on displaying harmful content, such as advertising gambling, to less than 18 years.

Asa rule

In the case of Play’n GO, which provides gambling programs for the industry and is licensed by the Gambling Committee, the company has put three ads along with email boxes, which features a cartoon Easter rabbit in supernatural clothes, a dj cartoon robot with a purple screen, and three things similar to anime.

“We … considered that Play’n Go Malta did not exclude less than 18 years of audience with the highest level of accuracy required for gambling ads, whose content is likely to have a strong age group,” Read the statement from ASA. “For these reasons, we concluded that the ads were irresponsible and violated the symbol.”

Asa Play’n Go has told the ads that could not exist in this form and warn them not to include images that are likely to have a strong attractiveness for those under the age of 18 years in their ads in the future.

For Mecca Bingo, the company shared a post to Facebook Post in May 2025, with the name “Tom Hanks Film Name”. Then 10 separate films appeared, showing the use of emojis, including those from the teddy bear, the child’s face, the mermaid, a missile, and a plane. Although some of these expressive symbols were childish by nature, the organizer did not consider them in a code.

“There were 32 expressive symbols in total, with the wide majority that shows daily things or symbols,” Read the ruling. “We have considered that in the context of the puzzle game that requires people to name a wide range of films, it is unlikely that the extent and use of emojis have a strong appeal for children or young people by thinking or linking to the culture of youth.”

ASA takes content that can like children seriously, after examining fears about the effect of gambling on young Near the end of last year.

Distinctive image: GeographicalLicensed under CC BY-SA 2.0