Background

Summary of Council decision:

Two issues were investigated, of which one was Not upheld and one Upheld.

Ad description

A promoted tweet from Coral Twitter account, dated 26 April 2016, stated "The easiest £40 you'll make this week! Stake £5 on 5/4 Real Madrid to beat Man City and get paid out at 8/1”. An image below the text showed a woman holding a sign which stated "New Customer Offer MAN CITY V REAL MADRID REAL MADRID TO WIN 8/1". A flag attached to the sign stated "WINNINGS PAID IN FREE BETS".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad:

1. misleadingly implied that the bet was risk-free; and

2. did not make sufficiently clear that winnings would be paid in free bet tokens.

Response

1. Coral Interactive (Gibraltar) Ltd said the claim “The easiest £40 you’ll make this week” was based on the assumption that Real Madrid, as the favourite to win the match, would beat Man City, which would result in the customer receiving additional returns (in the form of a free bet), in excess of the standard return. That was supported by the additional line of text immediately below the first claim which explained to customers that if they staked £5 on a Real Madrid win at odds of 8/1. While it was unfortunate that the match resulted in a 0–0 draw, Coral Interactive noted that the ad included no reference to the offer being ‘risk-free’. Further, they believed that the average new customer attracted to the offer would be aware that Real Madrid would need to win for the enhanced payout to be awarded.

2. Coral Interactive highlighted that the ad included a large yellow flag by the “New Customer Offer” headline which clearly stated the significant condition that winnings would be paid in free bets.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted that the claim “The easiest £40 you’ll make this week!” was followed by text that made clear that the offer related to a match between Man City and Real Madrid, and that the enhanced odds of 8/1 applied to a bet of £5 on Real Madrid to win. In that context, we considered that consumers would understand that they could win £40 if they placed a bet of £5 on Real Madrid and the team subsequently won the match. While we considered consumers were likely to interpret the claim to mean that Real Madrid were the favourites and therefore likely to win the match, given that the outcome of the match was not a foregone conclusion and relied on the performance of both teams on the day, we thought they were unlikely to believe that a Real Madrid victory was guaranteed or that any bet placed on Real Madrid was without risk.

Because we considered that consumers were likely to understand that the bet involved an element of risk and that depending on Real Madrid’s performance they could lose money, and that was the case, we concluded that the claim was unlikely to mislead.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

2. Upheld

We noted that the main body of the tweet referred to £40 winnings, the amount a consumer had to stake on a Real Madrid win to be eligible for the offer and the text “get paid out at 8/1”. We considered that consumers reading those claims were likely to believe that the £40 winnings would be paid out in cash.

We understood that if a customer placed an eligible bet and Real Madrid won the match they would have their initial £5 stake returned and the £40 winnings would be paid out in free bets (based on the enhanced odds of 8/1). While we acknowledged that text on a flag within the image attached to the tweet stated “WINNINGS PAID IN FREE BETS”, we noted that the text was small relative to the text in the body of the tweet or the other claims within the image. We therefore considered it was not sufficiently prominent to counter the impression that the winnings would be paid out in cash. Therefore, because we considered consumers were likely to understand that the winnings would be paid out in cash, when they were actually paid out as a free bet, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

On that point, the ad breached CAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising),  3.9 3.9 Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.  and  3.10 3.10 Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
 (Qualification).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Coral Interactive (Gibraltar) Ltd to ensure they made clear if winnings would be paid out in free bets.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.10     3.9    


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