£30,000 Fine for British Version of Deal or No Deal

LONDON, August 9: The U.K.’s premium-rate services regulator ICSTIS has levied a £30,000 fine against iTouch, which provides the phone services for Deal or No Deal on Channel 4.

Viewers are charged £1 to call in and enter a competition in order to win money contained in one of three boxes, all containing different amounts, shown at the beginning of the episode. The winner’s name is revealed on screen at the end of the show. ICSTIS said in the ruling: “At the point of calling, viewers will consider that any one of the three amounts is available to be won and will enter the competition on this basis. However, as the show is pre-recorded, at the time when the invitation to call takes place, the program makers are already aware of which cash prize will be won. Therefore, whilst viewers are entering to win any one of the three cash prizes, in reality the winning amount has already been selected.”

Furthermore, ICSTIS maintains that those who called in earlier in the show had a higher probability of winning.

This is the second Channel 4 show to receive an ICSTIS fine in recent months. In July, Eckoh, which services the “You Say, We Pay” quiz on the Richard & Judy show, was fined £150,000. Channel 4 recently stopped all premium-rate competitions, with the exception of Deal or No Deal.