William Hill Bookmakers, latest casualty of ASA rulings

It seems to be more or less a constant crusade by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to uphold complaints made against gambling companies, and the latest casualty receiving the full weight of the ASA is William Hill.  Clearly this is not the case but there does seem to be quite a high number of complaints that are upheld when it comes to gambling and betting companies. The complaint made by one person against William Hill Bookmakers was in respect of an advertising campaign offering free bets.

The two advertisements that featured in the national press and also a poster campaign were published to promote an offer of ‘£100 of free bets’.  The complainant felt that the sports bets ads were misleading as although the William Hill advertisements stated that ‘terms and conditions apply’, it was felt that William Hill did not clearly state that if a win was achieved from the free bets that the original free stake would not be included in the winnings.  William Hill Bookmakers in response to the complaint stated that the fact that they had included the ‘terms and conditions apply’ statement and that the sports betting account holder would not incur any financial losses of their own the adverts were therefore fair and transparent.

Unfortunately though for William Hill the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaint finding that the bookmakers breached ‘CAP Code clauses 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 34.1 (Significant conditions for promotions)’. The decision by the ASA means that the adverts must not be shown in the same form again, and must be more explicit in future advertising campaigns. The ASA felt that those taking the free bets offer may expect to have the bets treated in the same manner as other bets and receive winnings plus original stake in the event of a win. The full adjudication can be found at the Advertising Standards Authority website or by clicking on the following link.

www.williamhill.com