Help note on Marketing for Betting Tipster
Services
1. BACKGROUND
These guidelines, drawn up by the CAP Executive,
are intended to help marketers and agencies interpret the rules
in the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct
Marketing. The "Key points" are intended to guide media
ad departments. The Help Note is based on past ASA rulings. It
neither constitutes new rules nor binds the ASA Council in the
event of a complaint about a marketing communication that follows
it.
2. KEY POINTS
FOR MEDIA
AD DEPARTMENTS
— Publishers are advised to require
all betting tipster marketers to disclose to them their real name,
trading name (if different) and permanent address.
— Publishers should check that marketers
have "proofed" forecasts with an independent third party
before marketing that they have tipped particular winners or achieved
a certain level of profit (see 5.1).
— Publishers who "proof"
their marketers' forecasts for them should be able to provide
documentary evidence that the forecasts were lodged with them
in advance and that their systems for recording such forecasts
have been approved and regularly monitored by an independent third
party (see 5.2).
— Publishers should check that marketers
have not claimed that their forecasts are very likely or certain
to win or their service is very likely or certain to turn a profit
(see 6.1).
— Publishers should check that marketers
who make claims about their track record have not exaggerated
their success, have stated clearly both the relevant period of
forecasting and the "bank" and have either based their
forecasts on starting prices or have stated the basis for any
earlier prices (see 7).
— Publishers should check that opinions/testimonials
are not presented as statements of fact, are genuine and are used
with permission (see 8).
3. THE LAW
AND THE
CODE
3.1 Marketers should seek legal advice or
contact their home authority to ensure that their claims are legal.
Individual circumstances will determine whether or not any marketing
communication breaches the law;
3.2 Marketers offering services via a premium
rate telephone line must conform to the latest edition of the
ICSTIS Code of Practice and are urged to consult the ICSTIS Guideline
on Betting Tipster Services (Guideline No. 15);
3.3 The British Code of Advertising, Sales
Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) states:
"Before distributing or submitting a marketing
communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary
evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that
are capable of objective substantiation" (clause 3.1); and
"No marketing communication should mislead,
or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration,
omission or otherwise" (clause 7.1).
4. SCOPE
4.1 This guidance applies not only to horse
racing betting tipster advertisements in non-broadcast media but
also to those marketing tipster services for other events (eg
football matches); and
4.2 This guidance applies to those marketing
betting systems as well as those marketing specific forecasts
on events.
5. "PROOFING"
FORECASTS
5.1 Marketers must be able to substantiate
claims that they have tipped particular winners or achieved a
certain level of profit. To do this, they should "proof"
forecasts, ie lodge all forecasts with an independent third party
before the events to which they refer take place;
5.2 Ideally, marketers should "proof"
forecasts with an independent third party such as a well known
and reputable firm of accountants or solicitors. If marketers
"proof" forecasts with the publishers of their advertisements,
the publishers should be able to provide documentary evidence
that the forecasts were lodged with them before the relevant events
took place and that their "proofing" systems for recording
such forecasts have been approved and regularly monitored by a
well known and reputable firm of accountants or solicitors; and
5.3 Marketers who claim to have forecast
a successful combination (eg a double or a treble) must be able
to substantiate that the forecast was "proofed" specifically
as a combination and not just as several individual bets.
6. EXAGGERATED
SUCCESS CLAIMS
6.1 Marketers should not claim that their
forecasts are very likely or certain to win or that their service
is very likely or certain to turn a profit.
7. TRACK RECORD
CLAIMS
7.1 Marketers who make claims about their
track record (eg by quoting aggregate profit figures) must state
clearly the relevant period of forecasting and the total amount
of money (the "bank") needed to place stakes on the
forecasts;
7.2 Marketers should not refer to successful
periods in a way that wrongly implies they are successful in other
periods, or are generally successful;
7.3 Marketers who make claims about their
track record are urged to base their claims on starting prices
(NB. the ICSTIS Code of Practice that applies to marketers using
premium rate services states that "aggregate profit figures
may only be calculated using starting prices and the total stake
on which the profit is based must be stated"); and
7.4 Marketers who make claims about their
track record based on prices other than starting prices should
be able to substantiate that those prices were available with
a reputable bookmaker and should state the basis of those prices.
Marketers basing their forecasts on ante-post prices should not
ignore from their calculations those stakes lost because horses
did not run.
8. OPINIONS/TESTIMONIALS
8.1 Opinions should not be presented as
statements of fact. The use of quotation marks alone may not be
sufficient to make clear that an opinion is not a statement of
fact;
8.2 Opinions on particular forecasts or
on the success of particular services should be genuine and should
be used only with the written permission of those giving them;
and
8.3 Opinions alone do not constitute substantiation
and should be supported, if necessary, with independent evidence
of their accuracy.
April 2002
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