Ladbrokes builds on Mark Wahlberg campaign with new safer gambling ad

Entain has launched a new TV advert in Australia to highlight Ladbrokes’ new Punter Assist safer-gambling suite.

Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg stars in the short as he once again takes on the role of Ladbrokes’ chief entertainment officer Mike Iceberg.

The ad depicts Iceberg in his office after hours singing karaoke with a security guard as the duo take on The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.

Over the top, a voiceover says: “Punter Assist from Ladbrokes gives you all the tools you need to stay in control. If its no longer entertaining, you’ve got to know when to walk away.”

The Punter Assist toolkit includes warnings to Take a Break, Block Out functionality and settings for deposit limits. It first went live in April 2020, but new tools will be added from April 2021.

The new tools include Curfew, which allows customers to disable their account at a specific time of day, and Market Control, which gives punters the ability to customise their sport and product types.

This campaign will be followed by a week-long retail advertising blackout in late July to support Queensland’s Responsible Gambling Awareness Week.

Since the Punter Assist toolkit first launched, customers setting deposit limits increased more than threefold, from 28,738 in 2019 to 94,243 in 2020.

Customers making use of the Take a Break feature over the same period increased by 26,942 to 52,719, while almost 5,000 punters utilised the Block Out feature last year.

Mark Wahlberg as Mike Iceberg

Entain Australia CEO Dean Shannon revealed the enhancement of the company’s player-protection safeguards was a core business objective.

He said: “Punter Assist has represented a significant step forward in demonstrating Entain Australia’s commitment to player safety and we now lead the industry in personalised account management.

“We were highly sensitive to the financial and emotional strains that were placed on many Australians during the pandemic and we are more determined than ever to ensure our customers enjoy gambling in a safe and responsible manner.

“The release of ‘The Gambler’ campaign and the significant upgrade of Punter Assist further underlines that harm minimisation and sustainability are a cornerstone in the strategic direction of our business,” he added.

Entain is also in the process of developing data-driven techniques for identifying problem gambling by using real-time data and machine learning to prioritise customers displaying riskier behaviours.

Wahlberg, who spent two weeks of mandatory quarantine in Byron Bay last December, said: “Entain’s commitment to player protection was a key point in agreeing to work with the company. Aussies have a great sense of humour and it was really fun to bring Mike Iceberg to life.

“Ladbrokes has been great to work with and I like that this campaign encourages people to gamble responsibly,” he added.

Elsewhere, Entain’s upgraded takeover offer for Baltics-based operator Enlabs has been accepted by 94.2% of shareholders.

The offer has now been declared unconditional and settlement in respect of the Enlabs shares tendered no later than 18 March is expected to occur on or around 30 March.

Entain has extended the acceptance period for remaining Enlabs shareholders to 1 April 2021.