William Hill found in breach of advertising rules after Tinder come-on backfires

William Hill have fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority after the company placed a paid-for advert on dating site Tinder which included a link to its betting app.

The advert read: "Stuck in the friend zone? You won't be for much longer if you use this Cheltenham free bet offer." Being 'stuck in the friend zone' is a term used to describe a situation in which one person wants to start a relationship but the other just wants to be friends.

The attempt to woo punters in the lead up to the Cheltenham Festival in March was deemed to have breached the ASA's code after the authority investigated one complaint.

The ASA ruling stated: "[The wording] suggested that those who gambled would be more likely to develop a friendship into a sexual relationship and therefore linked gambling with sexual success. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the code."

Hills removed the advert after the complaint, and in a statement told the ASA: "Should the customer sign up, they would enter into a relationship with William Hill, where they would have access to all areas of the site and the services they offered."

The ASA added: "Upon reflection, they [Hills] agreed that it had the potential to be interpreted differently, but it was not their intention to link gambling to sexual success. They had removed the ad and were in the process of conducting a full review of existing content on the platform."

Tinder said it initially reviewed the ad to ensure its content was not socially irresponsible, offensive or targeting minors, and having passed the initial screening process, the ad was published on the platform.

In the last four years the ASA has investigated nine cases of complaints against Hills, upholding four of them including one advertising casino games in the app New MarioKart 8 Trick.

Last month the ASA also banned a Paddy Power TV campaign featuring the brother of Ryan Giggs, the manager of Wales and former Manchester United player, for glamorising gambling as a route to a wealthy lifestyle.

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