Coral World Cup advert cleared by ASA

A Coral World Cup advert has been cleared by the UK advertising regulator after it was complained about by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.

The Coral ad, published in the Racing Post in June 2018, offered a bet on Lionel Messi to score 2+ goals for Argentina against Iceland at a price of 5/1.

Underneath the text, the old price of 3/1 was crossed out, and the new price of 5/1 was advertised as a price boost for a limited time only.

The Campaign for Fairer Gambling challenged whether the crossed out price of 3/1 was misleading and doubted whether the price had been boosted.

In response, Coral said 3/1 was the standard price when the promotion was introduced, but that it had fluctuated due to factors within the overall market, affecting the event in general.

The operator listed factors including betting patterns and team news and also provided the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with details of the number of bets placed by customers at 3/1 and at the promotional price boost of 5/1.

The regulator refused to uphold the complaint and deemed that no further action against Coral was necessary, adding that consumers would “generally be aware that odds were subject to fluctuations in the build-up to a sporting event” and that the ad was therefore unlikely to mislead.