ASA Adjudication on James Alexander

Ad

A sponsored link, on Google, for a betting tipster, stated "Horse racing syndicate Guaranteed tax free extra income - Testimonials dating back to 1992". A follow-up brochure sent out by the advertiser contained a list of winners and testimonials. Text inside the brochure stated "All bets placed at "Starting Price". PROFIT 2002 £15,565 to £50 unit. PROFIT 2003 £17,147 to £50 unit. PROFIT 2004 £16,215 to £50 unit (work out the profit YOUR units would have made). PROFIT 2005 £17,885 to £50 unit (work out the profit YOUR unit would have made during years 2005 and 2006 to date). You've only invested a minority of your 'Bank' at any time. Most of your 'Bank' is always untouched and safe in your possession. Make TAX FREE money in just a few minutes a day from your home, the office, the beach or from virtually anywhere. (SUBSTANTIAL PROFITS MADE EVERY YEAR SINCE 1992)". Further text inside the brochure stated "My 'most successful ever' partner attests to making £7821.51 PROFIT in his 1st month!".

Issue

The ASA challenged whether the earnings claims made in the brochure were genuine.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

James Alexander submitted copies of letters and payments from clients, which he said verified the earnings claims made in the brochure when cross-referenced with the specific staking-plan instructions contained in the brochure. James Alexander also pointed to the list of winning horses referred to in the brochure.

James Alexander explained that the staking plan dictated the amounts a client would bet within the various sequences at any time. He explained that the amounts placed on bets were various and dictated by the day-to-day position in the current sequence that the client was at. James Alexander said, in order to avoid any future confusion, he had amended the page within the brochure that listed the profits made since 2002 by removing those earnings claims.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the letters and payments made by James Alexander's clients, and we also welcomed the amendments to the brochure that James Alexander had offered to make. However, we considered that those payments and letters in themselves did not support the overall earnings claims made in the ad, or that those profits had been made from a £50 unit.

We considered that, in order to substantiate claims that they had achieved a certain level of profit, betting tipster marketers should be able to provide evidence that they had 'proofed' their forecasts of winners. We noted that the CAP guidance stated that that should be done by lodging all forecasts with an independent third party, such as a well-known and reputable firm of accountants or solicitors, before the events to which they refer took place. We considered that, because we had not seen documentary evidence that James Alexander had proofed his forecasts, the earnings claims made in the ad had not been substantiated. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told James Alexander not to make earnings claims in future unless he could show that he lodged all forecasts with an independent third party, such as a well-known and reputable firm of accountants or solicitors, before the races took place.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)