Leisure

The advertising provided the following information:

“JP Pokerermania
Ireland’s Premier Poker Tournament Promotions Company
Friday Game
Navan
€1000 Guaranteed
€50 freeze out
15k starting stack
10% bonus on cash game until 12
Late reg until 10.30 – No conditions”

The complainant said that the term “freeze out” was a term used in poker to describe how a player who had been eliminated from the game was not allowed back into the tournament. In this case, however, the complainant said that even though the term “freeze out” had been used in the advertising, players who had been knocked out were allowed to re-enter the game. The complainant said that he considered the advertising to be misleading as he was led to believe that the tournament was a single entry only game and this was not be the case.

The advertisers said that the poker game in this case had been uploaded to their website and had referred to a €1,000 guaranteed “freeze out”. They said that they used to refer to a “freeze out” as having five bikes. The first five people to enter the game were given five chances to enter the competition, each chance was known as a bike. Once the five bikes i.e. chances to enter had been used up they were no longer allowed to re-enter the game. The advertisers said that they would amend their website to make the rules of their games clearer.

Complaint upheld.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee noted that internet searches on “freezeout” indicated poker games where once a player was out of chips they were out of the game. Online definitions for ‘bikes’ indicated it referred to a straight Ace-2-3-4-5.

The Committee also noted that the advertisers had not made it clear that their freezeouts were subject to bikes and, in addition, had not explained how they defined bikes. In the circumstances they upheld the complaint under Sections 2.22 and 2.24 of the Code.

Action Required:
The advertising should not reappear in its current format.