William Hill TV ad banned for ‘misleading’ terms

A William Hill advert for its ‘2 Clear’ offer on flat racing has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for unclear terms and conditions.

A voice-over said the offer was available on all live ITV flat races, but small text at the bottom of the screen stated “6+ runners”, causing one viewer to complain whether the six runner rule was sufficiently clear.

Hills argued the key terms were highlighted clearly, and the condition was need to as protection in case of mass withdrawals, explaining that 97% of flat races were scheduled to have six or more runners, but after withdrawals, 95% of races would have been eligible for the offer.

However, the ASA ruled the ad must not appear again and told Hills to make significant conditions clear.

The agency said the six runner rule was contradictory to the claims the bonus was available on “all” or “any” race.

“We considered that this was a significant qualification that should have been prominently included in the main body of the ad and that it was not sufficiently clear for it to be presented in the small text at the bottom of the screen,” the ASA noted.

The ruling comes at a bad time for Hills, after the operator was fined £6.2m by the Gambling Commission last week for AML failings, although it since pledged to adopt more “sustainable and transparent” practices for customers and stakeholders last week.

An ASA ruling has led to fines for operators in the past, albeit for multiple infractions, with GVC recently fined £350k for running a misleading bonus offer.

The ASA and CAP recently updated their guidelines for gambling ads, with the new rules set to come into force on 2 April.