UK advertising watchdog faults “misleading” William Hill promotion
William Hill blamed the mistake on an editing error.
UK.- The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against an in-app advert promoting an offer for a game in the William Hill App. Seen on May 17, the ad included text that read “Enjoy £40 on us! When you opt in and stake £20”. Small print underneath stated the Terms and Conditions, including a minimum £40 stake.
A complainant argued that the claim in the ad was misleading since it suggested player only needed to bet £20, not £40. WHG (International) Ltd (William Hill Online) recognised that one banner advert had featured incorrect wording that contradicted the nature of the promotion. It blamed this on a manual edit made during resizing for layout purposes.
It said only one ad was affected and that this was shown exclusively in the mobile app to a targeted group of up to 3,057 customers during a short period, from May 17 to 19, reducing the likelihood of widespread exposure.
It said that customers who clicked through from the banner were still presented with the full and accurate terms and conditions before opting in. In view of that, and because the error was limited to one ad, they believed that the likelihood of consumer detriment was low. The operator said it had since reviewed its processes to ensure that such an error does not occur again.
The ASA concluded that the advert was misleading, breaching CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualification) and that it must not appear again in the current form. It told WHG (International), which trades as William Hill Online, to ensure that any claims about future offers did not contradict the terms and conditions that applied to them.
This latest case was clear cut and resulted from a manual error. However, the ASA recently issued a series of rulings that left gambling operators taken aback by its interpretation of the rules for the use of sports symbols and athletes in gambling ads. The UK’s Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) recently updated its guidance on gambling ads.
