The ASA has banned a Casumo casino app advert after it targeted customers who googled “How to unsubscribe from all gambling”.

The ASA said it considered anyone searching “how to unsubscribe from all gambling” was looking for ways to reduce their access to gambling.

It said: “We considered such consumers would be likely to include vulnerable persons looking to restrict their exposure to gambling outlets and ads for gambling

The advertising code required that marketing communications for gambling should have particular regard to the need to protect vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited.”

The authority told Casumo that the ad can not appear again and that it needed to ensure future Google ads were responsibly targeted.

Following the ruling, a spokesman for Google said: “We require all advertisers to comply with local laws and regulations, including the CAP Code.

“We adhere to the ASA’s rulings and we continue to review our systems to ensure that they remain relevant and useful.”   

A spokesman for Casumo said: “Casumo engaged fully with the Advertising Standards Agency throughout this process.”Our position can clearly be seen in the response to the ASA in the publication and as stated in that publication we reviewed and adapted processes around this to ensure that we examine words that are or should be excluded from such searches going forwards.”