Poll results: Free bets are misleading, say readers
More than half of respondents to eGR poll say free bets mislead customers while almost three quarters believe tighter rules are required
Free bets and sign-up bonuses offered by operators are misleading and the Gambling Commission is right to investigate their use, according to eGaming Review readers.
With 91% of free bet complaints upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the past four years, the UK regulator recently announced it is to look at the offer of such bets and bonuses with the view to issue a new set of guidelines for operators.
As such, we asked eGR readers whether they felt the Gambling Commission was right to step in and more than 70% of respondents backed the regulator’s move.
More than half of readers (51%) believed free bets were misleading to customers and the Gambling Commission was right to intervene, while a further 21% supported the regulator but felt only light-touch regulation was required.
Meanwhile, just 28% of respondents questioned the Gambling Commission’s stance and felt that egaming operators had no questions to answer where free bets were concerned.
Such offers have become increasingly commonplace in recent years as operators try to lure new customers to their sites with the offer of a free bet, the winnings of which are often not payable unless it is rolled over a number of times.
This has led to number of operators including bet365, Betfair and Sky Bet falling foul of the ASA in recent months with the independent body highlighting problems such as cash-out restrictions and terms and conditions being too many clicks away.