Ad description
A website for Geoff Banks Online, www.geoffbanks.bet, a bookmaker seen on 13 April 2024, stated “FOR THE MISSUS: Place a bet on the Aintree Grand National and get a free £10 bet on the Scottish Grand National”.
Further text stated, “Geoff Banks will award a £10 free bet for use on the Scottish Grand National if you wager on the Aintree Grand National. Minimum Qualifying Wage is £10 win or £5 each way. Qualifying wager can win or lose. Bets placed prior to 3pm on Saturday 13th April qualify for this offer. Previous Free bet stakes awarded do not count as qualifying wagers. Free bet will be credited to your account by Saturday 20th of April.”
Issue
The complainant, who was unable to redeem the promotion, challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it omitted significant conditions of the promotion.Response
GB Sports Advisors Ltd t/a Geoff Banks Online said they believed all significant conditions for the promotion were made clear in the terms of the original ad and in the text message that was sent to participants on 15 April 2024, which stated how to claim the free bet. They also said that a follow-up email was sent on 17 April 2024 that further explained how to claim the free bet and detailed that the bet had to be placed by 5 pm on 19 April 2024. They said that, despite the complainant seeing the text message, they did not reply until the following day, after the promotion had ended. They also highlighted other entrants had followed all relevant entry criteria and had been credited with a £10 free bet.
They reiterated that the follow-up email, received by participants on 17 April 2024, included the closing date for the promotion, and so in their view, the complainant was not disadvantaged in entering the promotion. Geoff Banks Online said they updated the ad on 19 April 2024 to include the closing date. Because they believed the information about how to claim the free bet was clear in the text message sent to entrants, they did not believe the ad was unclear or misleading.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such information was likely to mislead. Significant conditions may, depending on the circumstances, include information about how to participate and a closing date.
The ASA understood that, in order to qualify for the free bet, consumers had to reply to a text message received from Geoff Banks Online by 5 pm on 19 April 2024 and to have placed their free bet by that date and time. However, the ad did not state that consumers would receive a text message, nor that they had to respond to it by a certain time and date. Furthermore, the ad did not include the closing date of the promotion explaining that participants would have to have placed the free bet by 5 pm on 19 April 2024. We understood the text message also did not state the time and date by which consumers had to respond. We considered those were significant conditions which were likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the promotion and their decision to participate. We therefore considered their omission was likely to mislead.
We understood the advertiser had sent a further follow-up email to entrants clarifying that they had received a text message, and that once responded to, participants would be eligible for their £10 free bet. However, the email did not state the date or time by which participants had to reply to the text message. We also understood the ad was updated the day before the closing date of the promotion, to include the date by which consumers had to place the free bet. However, the ad still did not stipulate that consumers had to respond to a text message by a certain time and date in order to be eligible for the free bet. In any case, we considered all of those conditions should have been presented clearly in the ad itself at the start of the promotion.
Because the ad omitted significant conditions about the closing date and how to participate in the promotion, we concluded the promotion breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 8.2, 8.17, 8.17.1, 8.17.4 and 8.17.4.a (Promotional marketing).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told GB Sports Advisors Ltd t/a Geoff Banks Online to ensure their future promotions included all significant conditions.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
8.2 8.17 8.17.1 8.17.4 8.17.4.a
