LeoVegas ad on the Daily Mirror website banned by ASA
An advertorial on www.mirror.co.uk, seen on 15 November 2016, featured text that stated, “How Brits can get an extra £1,500 from this online loophole One online casino is giving Brits an extra special welcome bonus Would you like to be £1500 better off?
Online casino LeoVegas’ latest welcome bonus has led to Brits getting an extra £1,500 to bet with by matching players’ first four deposits. The company is offering the welcome bonus to help attract new customers in a competitive market. The latest offer has caught the eye of hundreds of Brits up and down the country, due to how much extra players can get when they deposit, and the additional 250 Free Spins they get when signing up … How to get started To get started on LeoVegas, all you have to do is sign up here. After that, you can begin betting by depositing £10 or more and you’ll receive 100% in deposit bonuses, as well as 50 Free Spins. LeoVegas will give you more 100% deposit bonuses for your following three deposits – adding another 50 spins every time you request more.
All in all, new players can claim up to £1,500 and 250 free spins absolutely free”.
However the ASA complainant, who understood that the advertorial was promoting a ‘welcome bonus’ offer where consumers could claim up to £1500 in bonuses, challenged whether it misleadingly suggested that consumers would receive £1,500 in cash.
In response to the complaint LeoVegas believed that the ad did not suggest that consumers would receive £1,500 in cash, as the possible bonus awarded to players was dependent on them placing bets which they believed was made sufficiently clear in the ad.
LeoVegas Gaming stated that the word “cash” was not used anywhere in the ad, whereas the phrase “welcome bonus” was used on two separate occasions. Once in the sub-headline and then again in the opening sentence of the main body copy, clearly indicating that the £1,500 related to a bonus and not a cash offering.
They believed that the ad provided a clear explanation that the £1,500 bonus was contingent upon matching players’ first four deposits, having stated “Online casino LeoVegas’ latest welcome bonus has led Brits getting an extra £1,500 to bet with by matching players’ first four deposits”. Furthermore, at the end of the article it read “To get started on LeoVegas, all you have to do is sign up here. After that, you can begin betting by depositing £10 or more and you’ll receive 100% in deposit bonuses, as well as 50 Free Spins. LeoVegas will give you more 100% deposit bonuses for you following three deposits – adding another 50 spins every time you request more. All in all, new players can claim up to £1,500 and 150 free spins absolutely free”.
Assessment & ASA Ruling
The ASA understood that the ad was promoting a “welcome bonus” for new consumers, who would receive matched bonuses up to the value of £1,500 for their first four deposits.
However, we considered that the ad did not make sufficiently clear as to whether consumers would receive £1500 in cash or as a “welcome bonus”.
We noted that the ad featured the headline claim “How Brits can get an extra £1,500 from this ‘online’ loophole”. In the context of a betting ad, we considered that consumers would interpret this to mean that there was a means by which they could claim an extra £1,500 in cash winnings from LeoVegas without breaching any terms and conditions. However, directly under this was the sub-headline “One online casino is giving Brits an extra special welcome bonus” which suggested that the offer related to a “welcome bonus”. Beneath the sub-headline was a picture with the caption “Would you like to be £1,500 better off?”, which also suggested that consumers could claim that amount in monetary form. The text following this, however, suggested that consumers could claim up to £1,500 worth of bonuses whilst the last claim “All in all, new players can claim up to £1,500 and 250 free spins absolutely free …” suggested that it was possible for consumers to claim up to that amount in cash in addition to receiving 250 free spins.
Therefore, we considered that the ad was likely to confuse consumers as to what was being offered under the promotion and for that reason, concluded was misleading.
