The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a pair of complaints against TVBet after claims made on a media screen and in print ads were challenged as misleading and unverifiable.
Raised by BetGames.TV, the first ad in question, seen on September 17, 2019, appeared on a media screen and featured the claim ‘The Biggest Jackpots,’ with the second stating ‘#1 World’s Live-Games Provider’.
BetGames.TV challenged whether the claims “The Biggest Jackpots” and “#1 World’s Live-Games provider” were misleading and could be substantiated as well as if the same claims were verifiable.
In its response to the ASA, TVBet is quoted as suggesting that the claims “were not misleading” because the company “had been ranked as number one in a list of live games providers.”
Adding: “They said that that information was available on www.logincasino.org. TVBet said that they would not use these claims in their future advertising”.
Documenting its assessment the ASA concluded that both claims, ‘The Biggest Jackpots’ and ‘#1 World’s Live-Games Provider,’ were misleading and breached the code.
“TVBet stated that the claim was based on the overall ranking from the table on www.logincasino.com,” the self-regulatory organisation explained.
“We noted that the ranking was headed business to business providers of live games for sports betting in 2019. However, the claim “#1 World’s Live-Games Provider” was likely to be understood as referring to all live games, so it was unclear whether the ranking was relevant to the claim.
“That notwithstanding, TVBet had not provided any evidence to substantiate that they were the best-selling live games provider across all their games offerings compared to the rest of the market.”
Moving to disclose: “The CAP Code required that comparisons with identifiable competitors were verifiable. We considered that meant that an ad which featured a comparison with an identifiable competitor or competitors needed to include, or direct a business to, sufficient information to allow them to understand the comparison, and be able to check whether the claims were accurate, or ask someone suitably qualified to do so.
“We considered that the comparative claims “The Biggest Jackpots” and “#1 World’s Live-Games Provider” would be understood as comparative claims with the whole market. The ads did not direct businesses to any additional information regarding the comparisons and explaining the basis for the claims.”
The ads must not appear again in the form complained about, with the firm told that when making comparative claims in future, they should ensure that they were able to substantiate them with documentary evidence, and ensure that claims were verifiable.
In a response to the sanction TVBet explained: “We at TVBet respect the ASA contribution to the regulation of the UK advertising market and admit its decision on the slogans used. It should have been indicated in communication, that TVBet is both the sure leader and offers the biggest jackpots specifically in the niche of TV games, which related only to our company and BetgamesTV.
“In terms of the availability of jackpots provided, promo codes, a larger number of games in the portfolio, as well as two additional services, TVBet is holding the first-place position in the niche of TV games. Going forward, we commit ourselves to strictly following the decision of the ASA and are grateful for pointing out our mistake to us.
“We thank all participants in the process for the time spent, as well as the respected competitor BetgamesTV for helping us to particularise our market positioning.”
