Mansion rapped for "misleading" welcome bonus offer
ASA bans operator's advert over promotion's maximum bet limit terms and conditions
Mansion Group has been reprimanded by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a “misleading” promotion run by its slotsheaven.com site.
The welcome bonus offer said it would triple a new customer’s first deposit and included a link to the “Welcome Bonus Terms & Conditions” below the text, which revealed the terms and conditions of the offer.
The text, which appeared on the site last September, stated: “Your divine Welcome Bonus is ready and waiting for you! We’ll triple your money, so you can have triple the fun in the casino! Get a massive 200% up to $/?/?400 on your first deposit to play on our heavenly array of games.”
Further text read: “All games count towards the wagering requirements, so whether you prefer slots or classic casino games such as blackjack and roulette, there is something for everyone.”
One complainant challenged the advert, claiming it was “misleading” after they wagered ?10 on slots and was informed that there was a maximum ?5 bet limit on any slots and poker games.
The complaint was centred on two terms relating to maximum bet limits in the site’s General Promotional Terms and Conditions, which slotsheaven.com said were both related to bonus abuse and were applied on a discretionary basis against a small subset of players.
In its ruling, the ASA said the welcome bonus offer was targeted at new customers who were unlikely to be familiar with the maximum bet limits for different types of games imposed by slotsheaven.com.
Slots Heaven’s terms contained an example illustrating the percentage of contribution for each game type towards the required wagered amounts in order to withdraw winnings. The example was based on every ?10 wagered on slots and the amount that would contribute towards the total wagering requirements.
The watchdog said: “While the last term of the offer’s terms and conditions listed in the ad stated “Our General Promotion Terms and Conditions [link] also apply to this promotion”, which directed users to another page that displayed those terms, we considered that consumers were likely to expect that the Welcome Bonus page contained all the significant terms that applied to the promotion and that they could bet ?10 on slots within the terms of the promotion.”
Mansion was told the current ad must not appear again in its current form.