Pizza Hut Slammed for “Free Spins” Campaign

Pizza Hut has faced backlash over a recent promotion that linked pizza orders to offers of “free spins” at online casinos. 

The controversial campaign was part of a partnership between Pizza Hut and Free Spins Loops, a brand managed by Digital Adventures. 

The latter operates under Quantum International Holdings. Digital Adventures attributed the incident to third-party advertising platforms.

The Campaign, Deemed Harmful Due to Addiction Risks 

Critics have slammed the promotion, calling it reckless and harmful due to the risks associated with gambling addiction.

Customers who ordered pizza online were presented with a message congratulating them for unlocking “up to 300 free spins at your favorite casino.” 

The promotion emphasized, “No deposit required! Claim your spins today!”

Research consistently shows that online casino games come with notably high addiction rates compared to other types of gambling. 

In response to such concerns, the government is set to introduce new regulations next year, capping maximum stakes on these games at £5 ($6.37), or £2 ($2.55) for those under 25.

As expected, the promotion sparked a lot of outrage among gambling harm activists, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and campaigner Annie Ashton. 

“Pizza Hut Need to End This Promotion As Soon As Possible”

Ashton, whose husband Luke died by suicide after struggling with a gambling addiction linked to free bets, condemned the offer.

She remarked, “The recklessness of this Pizza Hut promotion is staggering – offering hundreds of free spins on highly addictive casino games while not knowing if those people may be in recovery from an addiction is not just careless, it’s dangerous.”

Ashton further explained that free spins can rapidly cause addiction “to anyone spinning so many times.”

“Pizza Hut need to end this promotion as soon as possible before any lives are lost,” she added. 

Duncan Smith, who heads a parliamentary group focused on gambling harm, echoed similar concerns amid the rising number of problem gambling cases among British youth and took the opportunity to ask for stricter regulation. 

He stated, “This is yet further evidence of how out of control gambling advertising has become. It’s not even possible to order a pizza without online casino products being pushed on to people.”

The Ad Is No Longer Live

A spokesperson for Digital Adventures explained the respective placements were under the control of an “external programmatic network that has built-in 18+ age protection capabilities.”

“The advert in question was live for a short period at the end of November before being proactively removed on 28 November and it has not been live since,” the same company representative explained. 

However, they did not clarify whether Pizza Hut or Digital Adventures made any profits from any losses incurred by customers who took part in the promotion.

The previous government’s gambling white paper that imposed a £100 million ($127 million) annual levy on the industry failed to propose any new restrictions on gambling ads. 

Labour has not yet outlined its stance on marketing regulations.

At the start of the month, the Gambling Commission’s director of policy provided an update on the continuous assessment of the Gambling Act Review carried out in collaboration with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport following the release of the Government’s White Paper in 2023.