UK HEALTH LOTTERY FACING MORE HASSLES

Sunday, October 30, 2011 : Now the Advertising Standards Authority is investigating
 
Richard Desmond’s recently launched Health Lottery, already beset by opposition from the UK National Lottery operator Camelot , faces more hassles this week following complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority which have led to an investigation.
 
The enquiry has been mounted following concerns that the Health Lottery has misled players with advertisements presented as editorial and misleading claims about a GBP100,000 jackpot, reports the marketing journal The Drum..
 
The complaints focus on claims made in two front page articles in the Express and Star newspapers owned by Desmond, which described the initiative as a “Lotto tonic for Britain” and “New lottery to make Britain better”, prompting complaints that the editorials should have been clearly marked as advertisements or advertorials.
 
The lottery’s claim that players who pick five winning numbers will receive GBP100 000 is also being investigated, as are claims that Health Lottery players are seven times more likely to win than in the National Lottery.
 
Health Lottery chief exec Martin Hall said the chances of a top prize winner earning less than GBP100 000 were a “tiny 0.009 percent”
 
Hall added: “Our use of the odds of winning our top prize compared to the National Lottery are based on mathematical fact. The chance of winning our top prize is 2,000,000:1 compared with 14,000,000:1 for the top prize on the National Lottery, and obviously people understand that the prize payouts are different.”