SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The ASA has upheld a complaint by a member of the public that a Betway welcome offer back in June was misleading. 
The advert in question had the headline ‘Football Betting Offer £30 Free Bet … Bet Now’ and the complaint was that this was misleading because it did not make clear that a customer would have to deposit £30 to receive the free bet.
The response from Betway Ltd was that the company agreed that the complaint had merit, because the significant conditions quoted within the ad omitted that it was for a 100% matched free bet based on the amount of a new customer’s first deposit.
Betway also stated however that the full terms and conditions for the promotion did state this clearly. It was also stated that the ad had been amended to make clear that it was for a matched bet and would take steps to ensure this didn’t occur again.
The ASA statement read: “The ASA considered the ad implied the free bet was a fixed amount of £30, and did not make clear that it was in fact a matched bet of between £10 and £30, depending on the amount deposited by new customers.
“We considered that this was significant material information which needed to be stated clearly within the ad. Because the ad implied the offer was for a fixed free bet amount of £30 and omitted material information, we concluded that it was misleading.”
It concluded: “We told Betway Ltd to ensure that ads for free bets made clear if the free bet amount on offer was matched to the amount deposited by customers. We welcomed their willingness to make changes to the ad.”
