Nektan hit with ad ban for unclear Ts&Cs
ASA rules that omission of bonus cap details was likely to mislead customers
Nektan has been hit with an advertising ban by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) after failing to clearly display the full terms and conditions of a bonus on its Sapphire Rooms casino site.
The ad in question was seen on the Sapphire Rooms site in January and said new customers could win up to £500 in welcome bonuses.
However, a complaint was made that the promotion failed to clarify a cap on bonus related winnings that meant the customer was only able to withdraw 4x the bonus amount they received.
Nektan said it believed “new and experienced players were fully aware that bonus offers had restrictive terms and conditions”.
The firm also said the ad included all the appropriate conditions and made sufficiently clear to players that other terms applied, which were one click away from the ad.
But the complaint was upheld and the ASA ruled: “We considered [the 4x cap on winnings] was a significant condition to the offer that should have been included in the ad, and given it appeared on the advertiser’s website, it was reasonable to expect that this could be done.
“We therefore concluded that the ad breached the CAP Code.”
The watchdog told Nektan the ad must not appear again in its current form and told the casino firm to ensure that future promotions included relevant applicable significant conditions where their omission was likely to mislead.
The ruling comes as five UK licensed operators are being investigated by the CMA over the fairness of their terms and conditions.