ASA Bans BoyleSports Free Bets Promo; Deemed ‘Socially Irresponsible’

A paid-for free bets promotion initiated by BoyleSports has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) as it encouraged reckless betting, and therefore deemed ‘socially irresponsible’.

The free bets campaign, which ran weekly from February 9 to March 8 this year, was published on the Racing Post website. Although the Racing Post said no complaints were lodged, the ASA didn’t share the same view and stated the ad must not appear in its current form again.

Untangling the promotion

BoyleSports constructed a “Bank Builder Jackpot” promo which served up to £60 in free bets and a share of a £10,000 weekly jackpot. Here, customers were rewarded for placing qualifying bets across four to seven days per week.

Punters who met the qualifying criteria across four days in a promotional week stood to pocket a £5 Cheltenham free bet. Over five days, this would entail a £5 Cheltenham free bet and a further £5 free bet the following week.

Whereas by the seventh day, users could pick up a £5 Cheltenham free bet and put themselves in the running for a share of the lucrative weekly promotional prize.

Those customers seeking the maximum benefits would need to stake at least £280 every day for four consecutive weeks to qualify for the weekly jackpot shares.

BoyleSports plays transparency card

BoyleSports was adamant their promotion was well structured and aimed at “customers with varying levels of normal betting activity”. They insisted that customers were not forced to increase their stake size or committed to participate across the full promotional period.

Furthermore, BoyleSports claimed the ad was factual and terms-led. Yes, the UK betting site suggested their terms and conditions were fully transparent and the ad was devoid of any “high-pressure language” or “countdown-style messaging”.

According to BoyleSports, only around 2.5% of eligible customers reached the highest seven-day reward tier across any given week. Meanwhile, a mere 0.5% of customers that had made at least one qualifying bet participated on all 28 days of the campaign.

To further underline its argument, BoyleSports claimed it didn’t trivialise gambling or suggest betting was risk-free. Rather, they suggested the lower-tier rewards made available enabled customers to receive a benefit without daily wagering.

ASA refuses to back down

The ASA was unequivocal in upholding its ruling, and pointed to what they perceived as the “problematic” promotional structure created by BoyleSports.

An ASA statement read:

“We understood that BoyleSports held data that they interpreted as showing that the number of days in a week that qualifying customers bet on average had not increased significantly compared to a period before the promotion.

“Notwithstanding that, we considered the mechanics of the promotion, which encouraged frequent and repetitive gambling on four to seven days out of every week, over a four-week period, including the requirement to use the free bets in subsequent weeks to which they accumulated, could lead to financial harm.”

As a result, the ASA suggested the promo could lead to “financial harm” and cited how the BoyleSports promo breached the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) code on gambling.

Will the dominoes fall?

Recent data presented by the ASA highlighted that there was only one confirmed ad violation between July and November 2025, with over 96% of gambling marketing and ads getting the seal of approval.

Although the ASA scanned more than 13,000 ads during the World Cup, with many bookies adhering to the rules, BoyleSports now has to tread a fine line. Otherwise, the dominoes could continue to fall if operators break the boundaries.