UK bans PokerStars bluff promo over player exploitation complaints

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) didn’t fool around when it called out the bluff advertisement of online poker site PokerStars.

On Wednesday, the ASA banned a controversial PokerStars advertisement, which it said implied that inexperienced players could easily excel at the game by just bluffing.

The advertising watchdog zeroed in on the narrator’s script which said: “Here you are, the moment when bluffing is the only way to win, you’re freaking out kiddo, but think about all those times you bluffed yourself… Use that talent because if you can bluff yourself, you can bluff anyone.”

After it aired in October, the ad watchdog said it received numerous complaint that PokerStars was exploiting new poker players by making them believe that they could rake in large jackpots through bluffing, just like the guy in the advertisement.