William Hill breached gambling promotion regulations, says UK watchdog

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that William Hill breached consumer protection regulations with a recent promotion.

The ASA has ruled that UK betting shop chain William Hill has breached regulations that protect consumers by encouraging ‘irresponsible’ gambling practices in a recent promotion at one of its locations. The issue stems from a voucher issued to a customer offering a “£5 cash match on any game”, redeemable within a seven-hour period. Issued at 11:51 am on April 3, it was redeemable between 5:20 pm and 11:59 pm the same day for customers staking £50 or more before 5:20 pm.

What went against consumer protection regulations

The watchdog ruled that this was ‘socially undesirable by encouraging irresponsible use’, with the issue centering around the time-sensitive nature of the promotion. However, William Hill, while acknowledging that the time window was the same day as previous playing, argued that the voucher didn’t generate urgent pressure to continue playing, with ‘very few’ customers taking up the offer of the voucher within two hours.

The majority reportedly waited at least three hours, which the betting chain argues meant that customers left and then came back. William Hill argue that this contradicts ‘the suggestion that the redemption window pressured customers to remain in-shop or extend their play’.

The company also went on to assert that all staff in their betting shops get the right training to identify and act on signs of gambling-related harm, including repeated visits. It was also underlined to the ASA that William Hill’s gaming machines provide prompts to customers to remind them of their time and spend, while allowing customers to set their own limits.

Nonetheless, the ASA ultimately ruled that the timeframe between when the voucher was issued and when it was redeemable created an ‘incentive for repeated play within a short period.’ This goes against consumer protection regulations regarding gambling-related harm.

There is no fine for the promotion, but the ASA made clear that the voucher cannot be run again and future promotions from William Hill should not encourage irresponsible gaming.

Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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