Coral hit with double ASA ban

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned two separate email promotions run by Coral during Euro 2016 due to “misleading” free bet deals.

Coral found itself in trouble for an email and a pop-up ad promoting free £10 bets on the outcome of Euro 2016 matches if a bet was placed after 8pm.

Despite the timing restriction appearing in the terms of conditions of the respective adverts, the ASA ruled the promotions did not make the condition “sufficiently clear” in the main body of the advert.

Coral admitted the condition should have been included in the main body, and said it is taking steps to ensure future time-sensitive promotions include such information.

Furthermore, a separate email promotion which ran during the summer tournament offered customers a free £10 bet every time a British or Irish team scored in the first round of matches if they bet £20 on any team to win the competition.

However, three complainants who received the email and had placed bets, were later told they were not eligible for the promotion and challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied the advert was open to all recipients.

Coral admitted the ad was only valid for selected customers and was sent out to restricted customers too due to “human error”. The firm later apologised with a follow-up email.

Despite the ASA welcoming Coral’s willingness to take steps to rectify the errors made in the respective promotions, the watchdog warned its future promotions must not be misleading and the ads must not appear in its current form.