About this app
What is Astros?
This is Midnite’s third ASA ruling this year. Last month, the operator came under scrutiny for an ad that suggested that “gambling was an escape from personal problems”. The ASA received 125 complaints on the offending ad and the company was ordered to remove the advertisement.
Another June ruling was not upheld.
In a separate case, the ASA examined display advertising for White Hat Gaming’s Casimba and The Grand Ivy Casino brands, which had appeared on HLTV.org – a specialist Counter-Strike 2 e-sports website – in March 2026.
About Astros
Referencing an Australian study on direct marketing and its link to gambling harms, Dr Philip Newall, senior lecturer at the University of Bristol noted that “causality was established by getting a random subset of participants to opt-out of receiving direct marketing offers”.
It was found that “this group then self-reported significantly lower expenditure and harms [ … ] over the next two weeks”.
They recommended banning direct marketing by operators and affiliates except for essential account or safety communications.
What is Astros?
The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has recovered NZ$11.5 million (US$6.6 million) in an investigation into compliance across the pokies sector.
The regulator of gambling in New Zealand announced on Friday that the funds returned by operators will be directed towards community organisations.
Under Section 106 of New Zealand’s Gambling Act 2003, a class 4 licence holder, also known as a “corporate society” by the regulator, “must apply or distribute the net proceeds from class 4 gambling only to or for an authorised purpose specified in the corporate society’s licence”.
