NOG 21. Betting Tipsters

Principle

Advertisements for betting tipster services should not be likely to mislead the audience.

Definition

“Proofing” means provably lodging and securely recording a betting tip with an independent and suitably qualified third party, such as a solicitor, before the start of the event to which the tip relates.

21.1 Radio Central Copy Clearance – Radio advertisements for betting tipsters must be centrally cleared.

21.2 Advertisements for betting tipsters must not be likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s.

21.3 Advertisements for betting tipster services must not make money-back guarantees.

21.4 Advertisements for betting tipster update-line services are acceptable only if the broadcaster is satisfied that the recorded messages are brief and the lines are a valid and necessary complement to the main-line service.

21.5 Before broadcasting an ad for a betting tipster service, a broadcaster must hold the tipster’s name (not merely his or her business name) and his or her full, permanent business address.

21.6 Advertisements for a betting tipster service operating on a premium-rate phone line must include the service provider or information provider’s usual trading name and contact details (see Section 22: Premium-rate Telephone Services).

21.7 Advertisements for betting tipsters who run, or are associated with, another betting tipster service must make that link clear.

21.8 Advertisements may include claims about a betting tipster’s previous successful tips only if those claims are supported, before the relevant race, by proofing of all tips offered on his or her service on the day or during the period in question.

21.9 Advertisements for betting tipsters must not include claims about notional profits. Claims about previous profits must be proportionate and representative.

21.10 Advertisements for betting tipsters must not state or imply that success is guaranteed or that players could forge a long-term income by following the advertiser’s tips.

21.11 Advertisements for betting tipsters may include claims about previous successful double, treble or other combination bets only if those claims are supported by proofing that the winners were clearly and specially tipped as a combination.

21.12 Profit, success or individual-win claims must not refer to odds.

21.13 If a change in circumstance would render it misleading, for example, if a race meeting were cancelled, an ad for a betting tipster must be not be repeated in its original form.

21.14 Advertisements for betting tipsters must not refer to a tip as a maximum bet or similar unless it is the only tip offered for that race. Claims about the success of a maximum tip are acceptable only if they are supported by advance proofing.