Ad description

A website and a 'Suggested Post' on Facebook:

a. The website www.skyvegas.com stated "£10 Completely Free + 200% 1st Deposit Bonus up to £1000. New Customers only. Join Now".

When clicked, this took consumers to a page which stated the same claims along with "For a 200% matched 1st deposit bonus up to £1,000 enter promo code WELCOME on registration. After you've registered you can start earning your bonus as you play. Excludes existing Sky Bet, Sky Poker, Sky Bingo & Sky Vegas customers. All game types are included in this Welcome Bonus including Slot Games, Table Games and Instant Win games. However certain games contribute greater amounts than others towards your bonus. This table shows the % contribution for each game type. Game Type: Slot Games 100%. Instant Win Games 50%. Table Games 10%. For example to earn £1 as part of Stage 2 of the bonus: Stake £25 on games within the Slot Games section of the website - the entire £25 (100%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. Stake £250 on games within the Table Games section of the website - £25 (10%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. Stake £50 on games within the Instant Win section of the website - £25 (50%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion". At the bottom of the page it stated "Terms & Conditions apply, click here for more info". This displayed the full terms and conditions for the offer including "8.New customers will have 30 days, upon entering promo code WELCOME to qualify for this part of the bonus. 9.Your max bonus amount will be determined on your 1st deposit. Further deposits made will not count towards determining your bonus amount. 10.Maximum bonus awarded as part of this bonus is £1000. 11.Your bonus will be credited within 72 hours. 12.Your bonus will be added to your cash balance but will be non-withdrawable. 13.You will receive an email notification once a week to notify you if your account is credited with Welcome Bonus funds. 14.All game types available at Sky Vegas are included in this Welcome Bonus - i.e Slot Games, Table Games and Instant Win Games. The 3 game types have different contribution %'s [sic] to your Welcome Bonus. a.Slot Games = 100% i.e to earn £1 stake £25 on games within the Slot Games section of the website - the entire £25 (100%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. a.b. Table Games = 10% i.e to earn £1 stake £250 on games within the Table Games section of the website - £25 (10%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. b.Instant Win Games = 50% i.e to earn £1 as Part 2 of the bonus - Stake £50 on games within the Instant Win section of the website - £25 (50%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. 15.To qualify for the full £1000 Welcome Bonus the minimum you must stake is £25,000 (if playing slot games)"

b. The 'suggested post' stated "JOIN TODAY AND GET £10 COMPLETELY FREE PLUS A 200% FIRST DEPOSIT BONUS!!".

It provided a short web address link which took consumers to a website which stated "Join to get £10 Completely Free + 200% first deposit bonus.*up to a maximum of £1000... 200% first deposit terms. New customers will have 30 days, upon entering promo code WELCOME to qualify for this part of the bonus. Your max bonus amount will be determined on your 1st deposit. Further deposits made will not count towards determining your bonus amount. Maximum bonus awarded as part of this bonus is £1000. Your bonus will be credited within 72 hours. Your bonus will be added to your cash balance but will be non-withdrawable. You will receive an email notification twice a week to notify you if your account is credited with Welcome Bonus funds. All game types available at Sky Vegas are included in this Welcome Bonus - i.e Slot Games, Table Games and Instant Win Games. The 3 game types have different contribution %'s [sic] to your Welcome Bonus. a.Slot Games = 100% i.e to earn £1 stake £25 on games within the Slot Games section of the website - the entire £25 (100%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. a.b. Table Games = 10% i.e to earn £1 stake £250 on games within the Table Games section of the website - £25 (10%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. b. Instant Win Games = 50% i.e to earn £1 as Part 2 of the bonus - Stake £50 on games within the Instant Win section of the website - £25 (50%) will contribute towards the wagering requirements for this promotion. To qualify for the full £1000 Welcome Bonus the minimum you must stake is £25,000 (if playing slot games)...".

Issue

The complainant, who had interpreted the ads to mean that they would receive double their first deposit as a bonus for signing up, challenged whether the ads made the significant conditions of the "200% 1st Deposit Bonus" offer clear.

Response

Bonne Terre Ltd t/a Sky Vegas believed they had clearly and sufficiently set out the material requirements of the "200% 1st Deposit Bonus" offer in the Terms and Conditions and that these were located one click away from the marketing on the offer. They believed they had set out in express terms within the Terms and Conditions the extent of the financial commitment required in order to obtain the maximum £1000 deposit bonus. They also believed this type of offer was typical of those used within the online gaming industry and provided details of competitor websites to illustrate this point.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the ad that although it was likely some conditions would apply to the 200% deposit bonus, they would receive that bonus upon depositing money into their Sky Vegas account. We noted the Sky Vegas games provided players with bonus money towards the relevant bonus amount (200% of the player's initial deposit upon registration) and understood the bonus money was accumulated based on the amount staked on particular games on Sky Vegas. We understood that a £1 bonus amount was accrued per £25 spent on the slot game and that for other games, a higher amount needed to be staked per game in order to receive that £1 bonus amount. We noted the Terms and Conditions stated that in order to receive the maximum £1000 bonus, players would need to stake £25,000. We also noted the ad provided details of the amount that needed to be spent per game in order to get a £1 bonus increment towards the bonus amount and that consumers would therefore be able to work out the total amount that would need to be wagered depending on what games (or combinations of games) were played in order to accrue the 200% bonus amount of the initial deposit. We considered the requirement to wager a significant amount of money in order to incrementally raise the relevant bonus amount was a significant condition which was likely to affect a decision to register with Sky Vegas and take up the offer and that it should therefore have been clearly stated.

We noted the Code allowed that sales promotions which are limited by time and space need to include as much information about significant conditions as practically possible and direct consumers to an easily accessible alternative source where all significant conditions are clearly stated. We understood this to mean that sales promotions significantly limited by space, should clearly indicate that significant conditions apply and that those conditions needed to be no further than 'one-click away' from the online ad and then immediately presented so that visitors needed to take no further action to view those conditions. We noted ad (a) was an ad placed on the advertiser's own website and considered that because of its location there was nothing to prevent the advertiser from providing information about the significant conditions on the ad itself. We further noted the ad did not provide any information to indicate that any significant conditions applied to the offer other than that it was for 'new customers only. Furthermore, we noted that upon clicking on the ad, visitors were linked to another version of the ad and that upon scrolling down, visitors were provided with a table of information which gave details of the percentage of £25 stakes that would result in a £1 payment towards the bonus requirements. However, we noted the Terms and Conditions themselves were only made available when visitors clicked on text at the bottom of that page which stated "Terms & conditions apply. Click here for more info". We noted that the Terms and Conditions were therefore two-clicks away and that visitors to that page needed to scroll down in order to view those conditions.

We noted ad (b) was a recommended ad on Facebook and that it was therefore limited by space. However, we noted the ad did not provide information to state that significant conditions applied to the promotion. We further noted that although the Terms and Conditions were displayed on the page, which was one click away from the initial ad, users had to scroll down in order to view those conditions.

We therefore considered that ads (a) and (b) did not display the significant condition with sufficient prominence and concluded that the ads were misleading.

Ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.    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),  3.9 3.9 Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.    3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.   (Qualifications) and  8.17.1 8.17.1 How to participate
How to participate, including significant conditions and costs, and other major factors reasonably likely to influence consumers' decision or understanding about the promotion
 and 8.18 (Sales promotions).

Action

The ads should not appear again in their current form. We told Sky Vegas to ensure future promotions that were limited by space made clear that significant conditions applied and that those conditions were immediately presented one click away.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.3     3.9     8.17.1    


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