The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Paddy Power radio advert over the way its terms and conditions were spoken.
The advertisement aired back in December 2021 and promoted Paddy Power’s “Bet Builder” alongside a £10 free bet. The terms and conditions for the bonus included minimum odds of one to five per leg, a minimum of four plus legs, a maximum free bet of £10 per day, and an exclusion of enhanced match odds.
However, a complaint was raised over the terms and conditions, with the complainant suggesting the ad was misleading because the T&Cs were “spoken too quickly and at such a low volume they were unintelligible”.
PPW Counterparty Services, which trades as Paddy Power, responded by highlighting that the ad included all relevant significant conditions, how it had ensured the ad did not contradict any claims previously made, and how the terms and conditions had not been sped up in post-production.
In addition, Paddy Power argued that a review had been conducted into the ad following the complaint, which failed to note “any issue with the volume of the ad” and that the volume of the terms and conditions was raised to “take into account any dip in volume as a result of the change of speaker and any difference in tone”.
According to Casino Beats, the ASA rejected Paddy Power’s claims and upheld the complaint, stating that the information about the offer was “material information that consumers required” to make an informed decision, which “must be presented to listeners in a clear and intelligible manner”.
The organisation commented that the “get money back as a free bet if one leg of your bet builder lets you down” sentence was spoken at a lower value than the rest of the ad and at a faster pace, garbling the terms and conditions.
As a result, the ad was deemed misleading and banned, and the ASA issued a warning to Paddy Power to ensure that significant limitations and material information are presented in an intelligible manner and are clear in all future advertisements.
The news comes after the UK Gambling Commission fined Sky Betting and Gaming £1.17 million over self-exclusion breaches this week, and after fining operator 888 £9.4 million for AML and social responsibility failings.
