The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against Geoff Banks Online.
A website for Geoff Banks Online, www.geoffbanks.bet, stated “For the missus: place a bet on the Aintree Grand National and get a free £10 bet on the Scottish Grand National."
Further text stated: “Geoff Banks will award a £10 free bet for use on the Scottish Grand National if you wager on the Aintree Grand National. Minimum qualifying wage is £10 win or £5 each way. Qualifying wager can win or lose.
"Bets placed prior to 3pm on Saturday, April 13, qualify for this offer. Previous free bet stakes awarded do not count as qualifying wagers. Free bet will be credited to your account by Saturday, April 20.”
The complainant, who was unable to redeem the promotion, challenged whether the ad breached the code because it omitted significant conditions of the promotion.
Geoff Banks Online said they believed all significant conditions for the promotion were made clear in the terms of the original ad and in the text message that was sent to participants on April 15, 2024, which stated how to claim the free bet.
They also said that a follow-up email was sent on April 17, 2024 that further explained how to claim the free bet and detailed that the bet had to be placed by 5pm on April 19, 2024.
They said that, despite the complainant seeing the text message, they did not reply until the following day, after the promotion had ended. They also highlighted other entrants had followed all relevant entry criteria and had been credited with a £10 free bet.
The CAP Code stated that promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such information was likely to mislead. Significant conditions may, depending on the circumstances, include information about how to participate and a closing date.
The ASA understood that, in order to qualify for the free bet, consumers had to reply to a text message received from Geoff Banks Online by 5 pm on April 19, 2024 and to have placed their free bet by that date and time.
However, the ad did not state that consumers would receive a text message, nor that they had to respond to it by a certain time and date.
Furthermore, the ad did not include the closing date of the promotion explaining that participants would have to have placed the free bet by 5 pm on 19 April 2024.
Because the ad omitted significant conditions about the closing date and how to participate in the promotion, the ASA concluded that the promotion breached the code.
