ASA Reprimands Geoff Banks Online over Code Breach

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority has reprimanded a bookmaker over an ad that omitted a promotion’s conditions. The ASA concluded that the ad violated Britain’s rules.

The bookmaker in question is Geoff Banks Online, which had launched the FOR THE MISSUS promotion that promised a free £10 bet on the Scottish Grand National to everyone who placed a bet on the Aintree Grand National.

The advertisement, which appeared on the bookmaker’s website, stated that the minimum qualifying wager is £10 win or £5 each way. It further noted that all bets placed prior to 3 pm on Saturday, April 13, qualified for this offer, except previous free bet stakes.

According to the ad, the free bet would be credited to players’ accounts by April 20.

However, a customer complained to the ASA that they couldn’t redeem the promotion. As it turned out, the operator had omitted important conditions, which prevented a complainant from receiving the free bet.

The Ad Was Unclear, ASA Says

Geoff Banks Online believed that its conditions were clear enough and had, on April 15, sent a text message to participants, informing them how to claim the free wager. Then, on April 17, the bookmaker sent another email, saying that the free bet had to be placed by 5 pm on April 19, 2024.

According to the operator, the complainant had seen the text message but did not reply until the following day, after the promotion had ended. Other participants, Geoff Banks Online highlighted, had none of these problems and had successfully been credited the bet.

In the operator’s view, the complainant was not disadvantaged in entering the promotion. Furthermore, the ad was subsequently updated and, as of April 19, included the closing date. As a result, Geoff Banks Online didn’t believe that its ad was misleading.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint, noting that the original ad had omitted important conditions on the closing date and how to participate. As it turned out, the original ad did not make it clear that consumers would receive a text message, nor that they had to respond to it within a short time frame.  

We considered those were significant conditions which were likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the promotion and their decision to participate. We therefore considered their omission was likely to mislead.

ASA decision

The ASA added that the follow-up email was also unclear as it didn’t specify the date or time by which participants would be eligible to receive the bonus bet. Even though the bookmaker did eventually update the ad to include the date by which customers had to place the bet, it never stated that customers needed to respond to a text message.

The ASA concluded that the ad breached its Code and must no longer appear in this form. The authority told Geoff Banks Online to make sure its future promotions are clearer.