Bookmakers warned of duties as Betway admit to offering free bets for reviews

Bookmakers were reminded of the importance of responsible marketing on Thursday after Betway offered punters the incentive of a £5 free bet in exchange for online reviews.

The Gambling Commission warned failure to adhere to proper practices could lead to "tough action", including financial penalties at a time when gambling continues to be in the political and social spotlight.

Betway offered punters a £5 free bet if they left a review on Trustpilot, a consumer review website, leading to a reported surge in five-star ratings for the company, according to a report in The Times.

The bookmaker stated the offer, which has been running since 2017, applied to "both positive and negative reviews" with analysis by The Times showing that five-star reviews have increased from eight in 2016 to 565 last month.

While the Betway offer complied with Trustpilot’s guidelines on offering incentives for reviews, which have helped the firm’s rating rise to 4.3 out of five, a number of correspondents left nonsense responses on the website.

A spokesman for the Gambling Commission said: "All marketing of gambling products and services must be undertaken in a socially responsible manner. A failure to do so can lead to tough action from us, including the issuing of financial penalties."

Betway stated customers were under no obligation to leave positive reviews about the bookmaker, who are prominent sponsors in racing and count Richard Johnson and Andrew Balding among their ambassadors, and said in a statement: "We are proud of our products and are confident that the vast majority of customers will have a great experience but reviewers are always free to make any comments they feel appropriate.

"We monitor all of our reviews and comply with all of Trustpilot’s terms and conditions on incentivising customers to leave reviews, both positive and negative, and this is displayed clearly on our page.”

A spokesman for Trustpilot said: "We have looked at how Betway run their incentive and have no evidence to suggest that Betway are using incentives to request only positive reviews. Their invitation templates currently fall in line with our guidelines."

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