iGaming Business – The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a television from UK bookmaker Coral after complaints that it linked gambling to seduction.

The ad features two men reading a newspaper and discussing horseracing in a barber shop before music starts to play and a woman dressed as a jockey walks in.

As she walks past the men, she stops close to one’s gaping jaw with her whip while other men in the shop stare at her.

A voice-over then states, ‘Get ready for today’s great offer,’ with the woman holding up a sign bearing the odds for a horse in an upcoming race.

A single complainant argued that the advert linked gambling to seduction, which goes against advertising rules in the UK.

Although Coral admitted its ad did make use of an attractive female character, it “did not consider that it linked gambling with seduction, sexual success or enhanced attractiveness”.

The bookmaker made clear that the female did not “flirt with or seduce the men and there was no suggestion that the men would be more attractive or sexually successful after betting”.