Free Bets ads have been quite widely-used recently. However, the Committee of Advertising Practice has realized that there are some violations hiding behind these seemingly harmless gambling adverts.
Recently, the new rules have been discussed, and the decision has been made to restrict such ads during live events in order to protect the possibly vulnerable gamblers.
However, the CAP hasn’t stopped there. It has been determined ambiguous offers for free bets will be shortly targeted as well.
For instance, ElectraWorks has already been fined £350,000 for their ads that appeared to mislead their customers. In their defense, they stated that they took care of the issue and withdrew the ads and all their new offers would abide by the standards.
When the Committee of Advertising Practice announced their fresh restrictions, they proclaimed that they would forbid all the ads that encourage repetitive play.
These updated rules will be used by Advertising Standards Authority when it comes to their decisions on complaints and will ban ads that affect customers’ financial concerns or self-esteem.
New standards will come into force on 2 April. However, the restrictions on free bets, are already in use.
Free bets
CAP stated that most of the complaint concerning gambling advertisements connect with customers being forced to make deposits before accessing their free bets or withdrawing their winnings.
According to the new rules, all the free bet and bonus offers are bound to state clear terms and conditions so that the users are 100% sure what they are doing.
Shahriar Coupal, director of CAP, stated that they would do anything to ensure that no gambling ads will exploit people’s vulnerabilities. Their goal is only to strengthen the protection of people who participate in gambling so that all the risks are brought to a minimum.
Gary Gillies, Managing Director of Big Free Bet in his turn proclaimed that he and the company agree that all the betting ads should be adequately controlled and that users need to realize all the terms and conditions. However, at the same time, he said that he would do everything possible to ensure that all these restrictions coming their way won’t be over the edge strict and baseless.
ElectraWorks, the company that suffered the first losses due to the new rules said that they have already got rid of the misleading ads, paid the fines and they have no intention to help history repeat.