One of the most off-the-wall gambling advertisements to date has been arguably created Online gaming portal Scratchies.com. While a cut-down execution of the ad is viewable on the www.scratchies.com website, Maverick Brands Australasia boss Richard Henderson is embargoing the full release until the transfer of its businesses - currently there is a 'silent auction' involving a gaggle of casinos hungry to eat Asia.

The off-the-wall viral advertising campaign, "Don't dream of a white picket fence!", was created by Bo Krabbe, multi award-winning film and commercials director out of RT Films and Holmes Defender of the Faith – also representing Spike Lee and Forest Whitaker in the broadcast advertising market.

The Scratchies portal ostensibly represents the key to the most lucrative gaming market remaining globally, being the Asia-Pacific region. Henderson said: “Australians spend around $95 billion a year on gambling. As anyone in the gambling industry appreciates, the market is virtually impenetrable courtesy of existing legislation that prevents any advertising of online gambling”. Australians spend $600 million on scratchies, the generic name for slots-style instant-win games in Australia - and very much a part of everyday vernacular.

The fact that the ‘brand’ has significant cachet across the region is suggested by the volume of Asian students in Australia over the last twenty years. A total of 228 592 visas were granted in 2006-07 from Japan, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and India. This figure does not include Permission to Work, Student Guardian visas or Australians of Asian descent. Scratchies is a household name in New Zealand, and as far away as Quebec where $460 million annually goes on games they refer to as scratchies or gratteux.

Maverick’s scratchies and pokies gaming portals, at present, are affiliated primarily with the online arm of casinos holding an Australian government license such as Lasseters and Ausvegas. Even these Australian based casinos, in an ironic twist, are not in a position to gain a foothold and target its gambling mad inhabitants because they are forbidden from advertising to them. Australian gamblers can legally play online, however, the frustration for any gambling organization is reaching them. Due to its sponsorship of international football 888.com can boast modest success. But at what cost? Marketing budgets aren't what they used to be.

    It's clear that Australians and others are already predisposed to gambling on scratchies. Intralot, the Greek gambling giant, announced in December that it had toppled Tattersall’s 54 year monopoly and was granted the government license to market scratchies terrestrially in the State of Victoria. The Victorian lottery market, under the monopoly, reached AUD$1.2 billion per year and is expected to expand under the new structure.