William Hill has received a rap over the knuckles by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for issuing a £5 slot promotion that may have encouraged irresponsible play.
The advertising regulator ruled that the voucher issued at 11.51am on April 3, 2025, from a slot machine based in one of William Hill’s high street outlets was in breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code.
The voucher stated:
“You’ve won a £5 cash match on any game!
“Redeemable between 03/04/2025 – 03/04/2025 from 05:20 PM – 11:59 PM in any venue.”
A William Hill customer complained that the timeframe to redeem the voucher was “socially undesirable by encouraging irresponsible use” as it did not become valid until five hours after it had been issued.
The sports betting and online casino giant argued that the £5 voucher was of modest value and that it did not encourage its customers to stay on their premises waiting for the offer period to open.
William Hill is one of the premium brands owned and operated by Evoke plc and has around 1,400 shops across the UK and a global presence online, including a portfolio of around 700 slot games from some of the industry’s biggest providers.
At the start of this month Hacksaw Gaming said it was releasing new slot content through William Hill as an extension of their partnership that was first established in February 2023.
ASA Ruling On William Hill Organization
The ASA outlined its ruling on William Hill Organization Ltd trading as William Hill on September 24,
The CAP Code puts emphasis on ensuring all promotions are socially desirable and do not encourage irresponsible gambling.
William Hill explained that the promotional voucher was only issued to customers who had staked £50 or more on an eligible slot machine up to 5.20pm on the same day.
It also argued that the promotion was a comparatively low value, one-off reward that did not involve any progressive elements, wagering multipliers or any other conditions.
The terms of the offer were on digital displays within the retail outlet and William Hill provided data that suggested very few customers issued with the voucher actually stayed on the premises to redeem it.
In the summary of its findings, the ASA stated: “We acknowledged William Hill’s response that the voucher was optional, that only a proportion of eligible participants redeemed it, and that most participants redeemed the voucher at least three hours after they had qualified for it, all of which they believed demonstrated the redemption window of the promotion did not encourage irresponsible use.
“However, we considered that, because the redemption window was limited to a later time on the day it was printed, it meant that most participants could only benefit if they returned to the premises or stayed until the later start time.”
ASA: Voucher Could ‘Encourage Irresponsible Use’
“We also considered that those who were eligible for the voucher may have already placed several bets earlier that day, as the voucher was issued once an individual’s total stake reached £50, which could include repeated play of winnings.
“We therefore considered that the timeframe between when the voucher was issued and when it was redeemable created an incentive for repeated play within a short period, including visiting the betting shop twice in a single day, increasing the risk of consumers gambling more than they otherwise would.
“We thus considered that linking the reward to a same-day timeframe, particularly at a limited period later on the day, incentivised behaviours that could encourage irresponsible use.
“For those reasons, we concluded that the promotion encouraged irresponsible use and breached the Code.
“The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 8.5 (Protection of consumers, safety and suitability).”
William Hill was told that the ad should not be repeated and asked to ensure that all future promotions do not encourage irresponsible use.
