The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against an ad for BoyleSports, “BANK BUILDER JACKPOT” campaign on social responsibility grounds.

A paid-for online display ad for BoyleSports, seen on the Racing Post website www.racingpost.com, on 3 March 2026, featured the text “BANK BUILDER JACKPOT” and in large text “+ UP TO £60 IN FREE BETS SHARE OF £10K EVERY WEEK”.

Small print stated, “18+ UK/IRE online. 9 Feb-8 Mar. Place & settle £/€10+ bets, min odds 1/1 on selected sports. Bet 4 days weekly to earn £/€5 Cheltenham Free Bet (FB). 5 days = £/€5 Cheltenham FB + £/€5 FB next week (NW). 6 days = £/€5 Cheltenham FB + £/€10 FB NW. 7 days = £/€5 Cheltenham FB + win a share of the £/€10k weekly jackpot (paid as cash NW). Cheltenham FBs credited 10-13 Mar, expire 13 Mar at 23:59. […] 18+ GambleAware Bet Responsibly”.

The ASA challenged whether the ad encouraged behaviour that was socially irresponsible or could lead to financial harm.

BoyleSports (Gibraltar) Ltd t/a BoyleSports said that the promotion operated on a weekly basis from 9 February to 8 March 2026. Customers qualified by meeting the relevant £10 daily qualifying criteria on four, five, six or seven days within a promotional week, which ran from Monday to Sunday. Depending on the relevant daily qualifying sport, the £10 requirement could be met either through one qualifying bet of, or multiple qualifying bets totalling, at least £10.

Customers who met the qualifying criteria on four days in a promotional week earned a £5 Cheltenham free bet; on five days a £5 Cheltenham free bet plus a £5 free bet the following week; on six days a £5 Cheltenham free bet plus a £10 free bet the following week; and on seven days a £5 Cheltenham free bet plus a share of a £10,000 weekly promotional pool.

The CAP Code stated that marketing communications for gambling must not portray, condone or encourage gambling behaviour that was socially irresponsible or could lead to financial harm. CAP Guidance stated that marketers should not encourage frequent or repetitive participation.

The ad indicated that customers would need to place and settle eligible bets of at least £10 each day for a minimum of four days during a promotional week to qualify for a free bet. Customers needed to place and settle bets for five, six or seven days in a promotional week for increased rewards.

The ASA acknowledged that only those customers opting to achieve the maximum benefit would be required to bet on every consecutive day in a promotional week.

However, the ASA noted that betting on five or six days in a week would require some gambling on consecutive days, and that even customers opting for the lowest level of benefit, at four days, were encouraged by the ad to place eligible bets on more days of a promotional week than not.

The ASA said it understood that BoyleSports held data that showed that the average stake for racing and football was higher than the £10 qualifying bet, and that they had interpreted that to mean that customers were not required to increase their ordinary stake to participate, we did not consider this was sufficient evidence that the ad avoided encouraging frequent or repetitive participation.

Notwithstanding the data that BoyleSports submitted regarding typical customer behaviour, it was, for example, possible for customers to place a single bet of double the £10 qualifying stake per week which, at £20, would contribute to the average stake being higher than £10. However, to participate in the promotion they would need to have staked a minimum of £40 in a promotional week by placing eligible bets of £10 on at least four different days.

For those reasons, we concluded that the ad encouraged behaviour that was socially irresponsible or could lead to financial harm.