The UK’s advertising watchdog has reprimanded gambling operator JeffBet after ruling that one of its adverts misled customers over a new player offer promotion.
The operator, which was launched in April 2022 by B2B white label casino solution ProgressPlay, advertised on its website homepage in November 2023 for “new players only” to take advantage of the offer of betting £10 and receiving a £30 free bet.
The terms of the advert meant the offer was only available to those who were new to the ProgressPlay network, as opposed to JeffBet. Customers could only find this term by clicking the text “Full Terms Apply” in the ad.
The ninth point of the subsequent terms stated: “Any player can receive up to 1 (one) sport welcome bonus on the ProgressPlay Network.”
ProgressPlay said there was not enough space to highlight this key point in the ad. Therefore, the company believed including this in the full terms and conditions via a link was sufficient.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint from a customer who found they were not eligible for the promotion despite being a new JeffBet customer.
“The ASA noted that the ad, seen on the JeffBet website, stated the promotional offer was open to “New Players Only”. We considered that consumers would understand from that text, and the context in which it was seen, that only those who did not already have a JeffBet account were entitled to redeem the promotional offer,” the UK watchdog said.
“Furthermore, we noted that the “New Players Only” stipulation was listed in small print, alongside other terms and conditions of the promotion, such as the length of the promotion and the maximum payout.
“We therefore considered consumers would understand that the text “New Players Only” referred to a full term or condition of the promotion and we considered that reinforced the impression that only new JeffBet customers were eligible for the promotion.”
The ASA added in its ruling that by placing the advert on the JeffBet website, ProgressPlay could not claim that the ad “was constrained by space or functionality requirements.”
It said there was “ample space to state any information which would be material to consumers in relation to the offer.”
“We considered that any condition which defined the eligibility for the promotion would be significant to participants when making a decision to sign up to the offer, and therefore should be prominently displayed,” the ASA said.
“Furthermore, we understood that the “New Players Only” promotional offer applied to new customers of the ProgressPlay network, rather than new JeffBet customers. We considered that this was material information which should have been made clear in the ad.
“In addition, we considered that consumers were unlikely to understand the term “ProgressPlay Network”. The ad should, therefore, have also stipulated that ProgressPlay owned a number of gambling websites, including JeffBet, and that if any potential participant was already a customer with one of their other gambling platforms, then they would not be eligible for the offer.
“We considered, at a minimum, the ad should have included a prominent and accessible link to where consumers could find a list of all ProgressPlay owned gambling sites.”