ASA warns William Hill over ad misleading on payment restrictions; clears Ladbrokes Coral in billboard complaint

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has addressed complaints regarding advertisements by William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral.

The watchdog warned William Hill over a promotional ad that offered a £60 bonus for new customers but failed to prominently disclose payment restrictions, specifically the exclusion of Apple Pay. The complaint argued that this omission was a significant condition that should have been clearly communicated, and the ASA agreed, stating that the ad was likely to mislead consumers.

William Hill responded by stating that excluding certain payment methods, such as Apple Pay, is a common practice in the gambling industry. They highlighted that only 97 out of 3,383 customers who clicked on the promotion deposited using restricted methods.

The company also argued that limited advertising space prevents them from listing all terms in the ad itself. However, they emphasized that full promotional details, including restrictions for methods like Skrill, PayPal, Paysafe, and Neteller, are clearly available on their website after customers click through the initial ad.

However, the ASA ruled that such information needed to be more visible at the initial point of contact with potential customers. The ASA instructed William Hill to amend its advertising practices to ensure all terms are clear from the outset.

“That text was not linked to the relevant text in the “key terms” section further down the page. It was therefore not clear where that information could be found,” the ASA said.

In a separate case, Ladbrokes Coral was cleared of any wrongdoing regarding a mobile digital billboard used during the Cheltenham Festival.

The complaint involved the proximity of the billboard to schools, suggesting it was irresponsibly placed. The ASA investigated and found that the billboard had not breached any guidelines.

Ladbrokes Coral had ensured that the billboard, which was mounted on a van, maintained a distance of more than 100 meters from any school, adhering to regulations.

However, the company acknowledged that due to the mobile nature of their digital billboard ads and limited parking spaces, the vehicles, known as "digivans," could occasionally be within 200 meters of schools. It maintained that efforts were made to ensure the ads were not positioned within a closer proximity.

The ASA concluded that the location and operation of the mobile billboard were compliant with advertising standards, as the ads were unlikely to be seen predominantly by children.