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Betfair has never been too far from controversy over the years, with its latest advert bringing it back under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons once again.
Betfair TV Ad
The new advert, which was devised by Big Al’s Creative Emporium, opens with a simple question, “Is your bookie giving you value?”. Following that the voiceover reads, “On all Channel 4 live races in September, Betfair were better priced than William Hill 30 minutes before the start of each race on 506 of the 640 runners. Better than Paddy Power on 549, and better than Betfred on 543. Now that’s value. Before you bet today, check the prices on Betfair”, accompanied by text at the bottom of the screen which stated, “Exchange prices only. 5% commission has been deducted from Betfair prices. Other charges may apply. For verification see betchecker.betfair.com”. It seems that the advert wasn’t quite as honest as it initially seemed, with TV watchdogs pursuing an investigation.
Misleading
With all the information that occurs during the advert that it is hard to know really what’s what. Saying that, the advert has been brought to task over one term in particular, that being “Best Odds Guaranteed”. Players believed that the claim was misleading, as it was believed that players which would receive whichever odds were better, either ‘live’ or ‘original’, but that didn’t prove to be the case. Because of this the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) stepped in and deemed the advert “misleading” and subsequently banned it. 
Betfair’s defence
Since the ban Betfair has come out in defence of its advertising efforts, it said that comparisons in the advert were related to the best price players would be offered 30 minutes prior to the start of each race. Defence aside, the advert has now officially been pulled and will not be allowed to air on TV nor on the Betfair website.