The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, has recently announced a ruling against GB Sports Advisors Ltd, trading as Geoff Banks Online. The ruling (A24-1242810 GB Sports Advisors Ltd) was made on 17 July 2024, following a complaint about a promotion on the company’s website.
The promotion, seen on 13 April 2024, offered a free £10 bet on the Scottish Grand National to those who placed a bet on the Aintree Grand National. The terms of the promotion were stated on the website and further communicated through a text message and a follow-up email. However, a complainant who was unable to redeem the promotion challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it omitted significant conditions of the promotion.
Closer look at the complaint
The complainant’s issue was with the omission of significant conditions in the promotion. According to the CAP Code, promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such information is likely to mislead. Significant conditions may include information about how to participate and a closing date.
In this case, to qualify for the free bet, consumers had to reply to a text message received from Geoff Banks Online by 5 pm on 19 April 2024 and to have placed their free bet by that date and time. However, the ad did not state that consumers would receive a text message, nor that they had to respond to it by a certain time and date. Furthermore, the ad did not include the closing date of the promotion explaining that participants would have to have placed the free bet by 5 pm on 19 April 2024.
GB Sports Advisors Ltd t/a Geoff Banks Online argued that all significant conditions for the promotion were made clear in the terms of the original ad and in the text message that was sent to participants on 15 April 2024, which stated how to claim the free bet. They also said that a follow-up email was sent on 17 April 2024 that further explained how to claim the free bet and detailed that the bet had to be placed by 5 pm on 19 April 2024.
Despite these arguments, the ASA upheld the complaint. The ASA concluded that because the ad omitted significant conditions about the closing date and how to participate in the promotion, the promotion breached the Code. The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 8.2, 8.17, 8.17.1, 8.17.4 and 8.17.4.a (Promotional marketing).
As a result of the ruling, the ad must not appear again in the form complained of. The ASA has instructed GB Sports Advisors Ltd t/a Geoff Banks Online to ensure their future promotions include all significant conditions. This ruling serves as a reminder to all advertisers to ensure that all significant conditions of promotions are clearly communicated to consumers.
