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By John Glenday | Reporter

February 5, 2014 | 2 min read

A Bet365 TV advert promoting a ‘free bet offer’ for Channel 4 racing has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because participants had pay up to £50 per race to take advantage of the offer.

The piece, created by Drummond Advertising, included a voiceover which said “…back any single winner at four to one or more on any race shown live on Channel Four and we'll give you a free bet to the same stake on the next live Channel Four race.

“f your free bet also wins at odds of four to one or more, you qualify for a free bet on the next live Channel Four race. Keep backing those winners and we'll keep giving you free bets."

On screen text qualified this with the words ‘Max free bet £50 per race. Free bet winnings exclude stake’.

In their adjudication the ASA said they understood the claim ‘to mean that they would be offered a free bet following their win, whereby customers would receive a free element from the advertisers to bet again.’

It added: “We noted that the terms stated ‘Free bet winnings exclude stake’. We understood, however, that customers would have to place their own stake again in order to make the next bet, and would not be offered, for example, an additional free stake or matched stake by the advertisers. On that basis, we did not consider that the promotion offered winning customers any 'free' element when making their subsequent bet.

“Although we acknowledged that, in the case of a subsequent losing bet, the original stake was refunded to customers, because we did not consider that there was a free element provided to customers who had a winning bet or a series of winning bets, we concluded that the claim that the promotion offered a "free bet" was misleading.”

The ad must not be replayed again in its current form.

Bet365 Channel 4

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