ASA Adjudication on Profitable Play Ltd

Ad

An e-mail for Jackpotjoy was headlined "Find out why we're Britain's best value night in!" Text below stated "Hi [recipient's name], [recipient's friend's name] wants you to join in the fun at Jackpotjoy and we do too! We've got loads of hot slots, bubbly bingo and casino classics for you to enjoy from just a penny! But don't take our word for it, ask [friend's name]. And if you click here to Join Now, you'll get our 100% Cash Match Welcome Bonus. So deposit £10 and you'll get £20 to play with. Plus we'll give you and [friend's name] an EXTRA £10 EACH once you've played with your first deposit! Join now and get two big bonuses!" A clickable button below the text was labelled "Register Now".

Issue

The complainant, who had played with their first deposit but not received the £10, challenged whether the ad was misleading.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Profitable Play Ltd (Profitable Play) said the e-mail was generated when an existing Jackpotjoy member referred a friend to join the site. They said the e-mail clearly stated that the £10 award was a bonus and they explained that the bonus had wagering conditions associated with it. They said the refer-a-friend promotion had specific terms and conditions associated with it which should have been linked to the e-mail but, due to an error, the link provided took users to the sites generic terms and conditions instead. Profitable Play provided a copy of the promotions terms and conditions and a copy of a revised e-mail that also featured a link to the correct terms and conditions.

Profitable Play said customers who clicked the link to take up the offer were taken to the registration page on their website to fill in their details and had to tick a box to indicate that they agreed to the terms and conditions, which were also available from a link on the registration page.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the claim "Plus we'll give you and [friend's name] an EXTRA £10 EACH once you've played with your first deposit!" would be interpreted by customers to mean that when they played with their first deposit they would immediately receive an additional £10, at no additional cost, with which to bet on the games on the website.

We noted from the terms and conditions to the offer that players were required to wager a minimum of £10 in order to activate the refer-a friend-bonus. However, we also noted that bets placed on only two types of game on the site contributed to that wagering requirement at their face value, that bets on other games contributed only a percentage, according to a scale listed in the sites terms and conditions, and that two games did not contribute to the wager requirement at all. We therefore considered that some players could have to wager more than £10 in order to activate the refer-a-friend bonus.

We noted that, due to an error, the terms and conditions to the offer had not been linked to the e-mail. Nevertheless, we considered that the wagering requirements were significant conditions likely to influence customers' understanding of the offer and should have been stated prominently in the ad. Because they were not we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 11) clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 34.1a (Significant conditions for promotions).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)