From giant toast to high-rolling monkeys: the most creative gaming ads

The casino industry has always been highly competitive and players that cannot make the cut and keep up with their peers are routinely left by the wayside. In the highly competitive online casino industry, advertising is one way in which casinos are able to differentiate themselves and grab the attention of prospective punters – and with half the world in some form of lockdown or other over the last year, those who grabbed potential punters’ attention early on have reaped the rewards.

Although gambling and casino advertising has started to face stricter regulations around the world, many casinos are still getting creative and developing new, interesting ways to attract players. Below are some of the most creative, outlandish and hilarious advertisements that online and brick and mortar casinos have used over the years to make a name for themselves and stand out from the crowd. On the online casino portal CasinoTopsOnline.com you can find many options and some of the wackiest and earliest adopters of the online casino niche.

GoldenPalace.com

This online casino was arguably a trailblazer in more ways than one. Founded in 1997, GoldenPalace.com was one of the earliest online casinos and it certainly did not waste any time in making a name for itself through advertising. GoldenPalace.com operates under a license from the Curaçao Internet Gaming Association, or CIGA, and can be used in the US and UK along with other countries around the world.

GoldenPalace.com started its wacky advertising onslaught by paying boxers to wear temporary tattoos depicting their logo during matches, and has also sponsored streakers to wear the same temporary tattoos while running across sports pitches naked, interrupting matches. A cursory Google search will show you more than you ever wanted to see!

Not content with stopping at temporary tattoos, GoldenPalace.com has even paid multiple people – including one Utah mother – to tattoo the company name across their foreheads. Another woman was paid to legally change her name from Terri Ilagan to GoldenPalace.com.

Aside from tattoos and legal name changes, GoldenPalace.com also won a number of internet auctions for strange items – arguably a strange advertising technique in itself. The online casino paid $28,000 in 2004 for a grilled cheese sandwich that purportedly depicted the Virgin Mary, and in 2006, it paid $25,000 for William Shatner’s kidney stone.

GoldenPalace.com has survived in the cutthroat gambling industry for over 20 years and continues to grow. Even though its marketing stunts have diminished over the years, perhaps other online casinos struggling for consumer attention should take note of GoldenPalace.com’s strategy.

32Red

The online casino 32Red has run a number of wild television commercials over the years, including one in which a horde of monkeys takes over the casino. As the monkeys occupy the roulette table, they are both adorable and terrifying, but definitely unforgettable!

Following the success of the monkey commercial, 32Red launched their Pimp My Tractor advert, which featured sacks of potatoes, fields, sheep dogs and a very fancy tractor.

888

Bizarre stunts and television commercials go hand in hand when it comes to advertising for casinos. The online casino 888 explored the question of why toast often lands buttered-side down – a question that scientists have also considered themselves. In the 888 falling toast ad, a giant piece of toast is pushed off the roof of a building and floats through the air until it lands – you guessed it – buttered-side down.

In 2001, an experiment was conducted across America, involving over 1,000 schoolchildren and 21,000 recorded drops of buttered toast. After collecting the data from all 21,000 toast drops, scientists concluded that toast tends to fall on the buttered side, not because there is butter on it but because when it falls, it rotates from its original position. The spin rate is slow, however, and the toast typically ends up on the buttered side when it hits the floor.

Paddy Power

Although Paddy Power is technically a bookmaker and not a casino, it has arguably created some of the best gambling ads over the last few years and deserves a mention. It is difficult to mention all the amazing advertising that Paddy Power has done but one of the most impressive stunts involved a hot air balloon shaped like a pair of green pants, which Paddy Power flew over the 2013 Cheltenham Festival. They also erected a 108-foot-tall statue of former England manager Roy Hodgson ahead of Euro 2012 – the statue was intended to bless the English team and aid them in their sport.

Paddy Power has also run advertising stunts involving Eurovision, royal babies, the scandal around Russian Olympic medals, Brexit and even Costa. Nothing is safe from the advertising team at Paddy Power!

These are just a few of the many creative and outlandish ways in which casinos have tried to distinguish themselves from their competitors. If the advertising continues to be this creative, we are happy for the industry to stay competitive!