ASA rules against William Hill for failing to make clear free bet offer available only for selected odds

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published a ruling against William Hill for failing to make clear in the body of one of its ads that a free bet offer applied only to bets of certain odds.

Clear communication of significant conditions and misleading labelling

An ad on the William Hill betting website, stated "BET £10 GET £20 FREE CREDITED AS 2 X £10 BETS PROMO CODE: F20 EU REFERENDUM BETTING NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY *Wagering and Terms Apply". Clicking on Wagering and Terms Apply opened a pop-up box that stated "PROMO CODE: F20 Terms and conditions ... Your first bet must be placed on selection(s) with single/cumulative odds greater than 1/2 (1.5) ...". The small print at the bottom of the page displayed the terms and conditions for the offer, which stated “Your first bet must be placed on a selection(s) with single/cumulative odds greater than ½ (1.5)”. The small print stated: “Terms and conditions: Sport”. The complainant believed the conditions of the offer were not made clear and challenged whether the ad was misleading.

The ASA ruled that the advertisement breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.10 (Qualification) and 8.2 (Promotional marketing). They agreed with the complainant that conditions which would affect consumers' participation in an offer were not clearly stated in the ad. They considered that the term contained in the small print and the click through "Wagering and Terms Apply", stating the need for the bet to be placed on a selection with odds greater than 1.5, was a significant term that was likely to affect a customers’ understanding of the offer and should have been included in the main body of the ad. The ASA also ruled that the small print terms and conditions at the bottom of the page, which stated “Terms and conditions: Sport”, gave the impression that the quoted terms and conditions applied to sporting events rather than the advertised EU Referendum bet.

Comment

This ruling illustrates that the ASA expects significant conditions that affect a consumer’s participation in offers to be clearly stated in the main body of ads and that the ASA will not necessarily accept the argument of limited space. This ruling also highlights the need to clearly label and signpost applicable terms and conditions in adverts generally.