The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has rejected all five complaints made by SIS about an advertisement placed by BHB in the Racing Post last November which contained details of Racin?_x0019_s commercial charges from May 2002.

SIS had announced publicly that it was claiming five breaches of the Advertising Code in BHB’s advertisement headlined “Bookmakers. 10 facts about British Racing’s Charges”.

SIS had objected:

1. that the advertisers’ description of themselves as “British Racing” was misleading;
2. that the advertisement misleadingly implied that the complainant’s pricing structure was designed to favour the larger operators, including its shareholders;
3. to the claim that “SIS will not be entitled to charge for the rights of British Racing”;
4. that the breakdown of the complainants’ prices was misleading because the advertiser could not know what proportion of SIS’s pricing was attributed to the UK horse racing; and
5. that the advertisement violated the fair competition principles of the Codes and was therefore denigratory.

BHB Managing Director, Commercial Nigel Smith said today:

“I am pleased that SIS’s complaints have been rejected and that the ASA accepts that BHB accurately portrayed the relationship between SIS, bookmakers and rights payments.

“BHB is convinced that the way forward is through mutual co-operation rather than legal or regulatory challenges.”

A copy of the full ASA adjudication can be found on www.asa.org.uk or be obtained from BHB on request.