One person complained that the claim "£15 free! No deposit required" misleadingly implied that users could use their free £15 credit to play games and collect the winnings. However, the free credit was only available for practice games where no actual winnings could be withdrawn.
BingoHero pointed out the terms and conditions, which stated that money won via the "free money" was not eligible for withdrawal. The advertiser did not feel the ad was misleading, but nevertheless amended the text to state: "£15 Free! *Terms apply."
The ASA considered that readers would believe the £15 would be credited to their account and could be used for actual game play. They considered the ad to be misleading despite the text amendment and thus found the ad to be in breach of the CAP Code.
The ad must not be shown again in its current form.
United Kingdom
ASA slams online bingo promotion
LONDON - An online promotion for BingoHero.co.uk has been axed by the Advertising Standards Authority over claims that it offered "free" money to gamble with.