UK ASA Forbids Will Hill Press Ad

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has scrutinized a William Hill press advert that appeared in the Racing Post under the title "Who's Been The Best Price On The Favourites So Far This Season?" Namely, the ad showed four boxes, each contained a big William Hill-branded football shirt and three smaller shirts branded with the names of other bookmakers. Each shirt had a number representing the number of matches in which that company had offered the best price. The first box was titled "BEST PRICE PREMIER LEAGUE" and text in the shirts stated "WILLIAM HILL 102; CORAL 27; BET365 0; BETFAIR 0". The other boxes gave statistics from other leagues in the same way. And everything was accompanied by large text below which stated "You know where to come," directing players to the Will Hill's Best Prices section of the site. The ad was challenged by a complainant, who questioned whether the claim and the comparisons between the bookmakers in the ad were misleading and could be substantiated. This was supported by the ASA, which noted that it considered that the data did not show that William Hill had offered the best prices on the favorites during the season when compared with the whole market and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.