ASA clears Coral on complaint against its advertisement

The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has cleared the advertisement of Coral after The Campaign for Fairer Gambling raised a complaint about it.

The ad in question was featured in the Racing Post during the World Cup last summer, which promised a Price Boost offer on Argentina versus Iceland game, regarding a bet on Lionel Messi to score two or more goals at odds of 5/1. The ad contained the wording, “was 3/1” but this was struck out. Small print on the ad went on to point out that the “was” price was given as a guide.

The Campaign for Fairer Gambling raised the complaint that the crossed out price of 3/1 and the claim that there was a “price boost” were misleading.

Coral countered that the 3/1 odds amounted to the standard price at the time the promotion started, but that the price subsequently fluctuated. They also pointed to the fact that with a newspaper ad, the content had to be finalised in advance, which is why the ad included a condition stating that prices were subject to fluctuation.

In reaching its decision, the ASA said in its ruling that consumers would understand that the market fluctuates ahead of an event, and that they would understand that the struck-out price represented the predominant market odds at the time the ad was created. As a result, the ASA found that there had been no breach of advertising regulations and did not take any further action.