A complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has led to William Hill being told not to use advertisements in their current form and to ensure that future ads detail significant conditions. The ruling may cause several companies to re-word marketing campaigns as it concerns the offer of free bets. The complainant had challenged whether the ads were misleading because they did not make clear that any winnings that resulted from the free bets would be settled without the amount of the free stake being returned.

In response the William Hill Organisation claimed that the customer was being offered a free bet and the advertisement made it clear that there were conditions attached to that offer. They said the condition of not getting the stake back did not make the £100 bet being any less free and that the customers would still receive their winnings. However, the ASA upheld the complaint.

The reasoning behind the ASA decision was that the terms of the offer were that consumers could claim the promotional £100 of free bets in increments as a result of spending specified amounts on real bets. It considered that, because the increments of free bets were only awarded as a result of minimum spends by the consumer; customers would expect those bets to be treated in the same way as any other bet and to get their stake back along with any winnings.

The ASA noted the terms and conditions on the advertiser’s website stated that stakes were not returned on free bets but added, “We also noted that information was not included in the ads and considered that was a significant condition likely to affect consumers’ decisions to take advantage of the offer in the first instance.” The ASA concluded that the omission of this information was likely to mislead and the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 34.1 (Significant conditions for promotions).

The ASA finding follows a May 2008 ruling against William Hill. In that instance the company was told to pull a television ad for online bingo which was judged to condone socially irresponsible gambling behaviour. (E-10.09.09)

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