Ladbrokes advertising complaint upheld by ASA

A complaint regarding a Ladbrokes online advert has been upheld by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The online banner advert for a sales promotion said: ‘UP TO £500! IN FREE BETS ON LADBROKES EXCHANGE’. This was then followed by smaller text which was hyperlinked back to their site, saying:  ‘T&Cs Apply – Click here.’

However, once the terms and conditions were clicked on, it stated that in order to actually obtain the free £500 worth of bets, punters must have spent £1,925 in commission to Ladbrokes on their winning bets. This is at a commission rate of 5 per cent, thus meaning they would have needed to have won £38,500.

Ladbrokes argued that their promotion was designed to promote and reward the loyalty of punters, rather than being a short-term bonus.

The ASA, however, ruled against Ladbrokes, arguing that the advert was misleading and said that it must not appear again in the same form.

“We considered consumers would understand from the ad’s claim… that some customers might not fulfil the requirements to receive the full £500 of free bets, but also considered that the overall impression created was that a reasonable proportion of customers would fulfil the requirements to qualify for a significant percentage of the maximum £500 of free bets, within a reasonable time frame,” the ASA said.

“The terms and conditions to the offer, which were clearly referenced in the ad and appeared one click away, provided information as to the amount of commission that would be paid to Ladbrokes in order to qualify for each £25 of free bets.

“We considered, however, that because of the significant sums of money involved, the terms and conditions should have made clear the amount of winnings a customer must accumulate in order to have paid the relevant amounts of commission; we considered that information was likely to influence consumers’ understanding about the offer.

“Because the terms and conditions did not make clear the significant extent of the monetary commitment that was entailed in qualifying for each £25 of free bets, we concluded the offer was in breach of the Code.”

The organisation told Ladbrokes that it need to ensure advertising for the offer did not imply that a “reasonable proportion of customers would fulfil the requirements to quality”. Furthermore, they added, “the extent of the monetary commitment that was entailed in qualifying” should be made much clearer in the terms and conditions set.