Ad description
Claims on www.marathonbet.co.uk, seen on 9 March 2016, promoted an offer for new customers for the Cheltenham Festival. Text stated, "NEW CUSTOMER OFFER ... 2/1 WILLIE MULLINS TOP TRAINER ...". Smaller text underneath stated, "MAX BET £10. MINIMUM STAKE £5. ONLY £5 OF YOUR BET PAID AT 2/1 ODDS. ENHANCED PRICE PAID AS A FREE BET ...".
Issue
The complainant, who believed the conditions of the offer were not clear, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Marathon Alderney Ltd t/a Marathon Bet (Marathon Bet) said the offer allowed new customers to receive 2/1 odds on Willie Mullins to be top trainer at the Cheltenham Festival. The conditions of the offer included a minimum stake of £5 and a maximum stake of £10 to receive the enhanced odds of 2/1, with the enhancement price paid as a Free Bet. They believed that the significant qualifications and limitations of the offer were made clear in the ad, noting that the text beneath the "Terms and conditions" hyperlink stated "ENHANCED PRICE PAID AS A FREE BET".
Marathon Bet stated that the terms and conditions of the offer, which were available to customers by clicking on the “Terms and conditions” hyperlink within the ad, made clear how consumers could participate and how the winnings were paid. They also highlighted that customers were actively required to accept the terms and conditions of the offer before they were directed to the main website to register.
They explained that the claim “Only £5 of your bet will be paid at enhanced odds” was a typographical error, and should have instead stated £10 and had since been corrected. They also confirmed that all qualifying customers for the offer had received winnings in accordance with the conditions advertised, with bet stakes between £5 and £10 for the market receiving an enhancement of 2/1. The enhanced price was paid as Free Bets and the winnings based on the standard odds were settled in cash and credited to customers’ accounts. With the price of the market at 1.07/1, customers who placed a £10 bet received £19.30 as a Free Bet and £10.70 credited to their account, while customers who placed a £5 bet received £9.65 as a Free Bet and £5.35 credited to their account.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that the ad included a typographical error regarding the amount of the bet that would be paid at the 2/1 odds and had subsequently been amended. We noted that the headline claim on the webpage stated “2/1 WILLIE MULLINS TOP TRAINER” and that additional text below the headline and “BET NOW” link stated the maximum and minimum bet amounts which applied and that “ONLY £5 OF YOUR BET PAID AT 2/1 ODDS. ENHANCED PRICE PAID AS A FREE BET”. We considered that that text did not make adequately clear what the “enhanced price” and “free bet” claims related to, however, and in the context of the ad as a whole we considered that consumers participating in the offer would expect their winnings to be paid out in cash at the odds of 2/1.
We understood that the full terms and conditions explained that participants could bet a maximum of £10 and that there were two elements to the bet with different odds for each part. Winnings would be paid out as a mixture of both cash and a free bet, with the cash element based on the market odds at the time the bet was placed and the free bet making up the difference between the market odds of 1.07/1 and the amount that would have been paid at odds of 2/1. Hence, an individual betting £5 would receive £5.35 in cash winnings and £9.65 as a free bet, representing a total winning of £10. While we noted the terms and conditions were one click away on a linked webpage, we considered that the fact a portion of the winnings would be paid out as a free bet was a significant condition that could affect whether or not a consumer decided to take up the offer, and should therefore have been stated prominently within the ad itself.
Because the ad did not make clear that a portion of the winnings would be paid out as a free bet, as opposed to cash, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising), and
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Marathon Bet to ensure that future ads made clear if a portion of a participant’s winnings would be paid out in free bets.
