Sky Betting & Gaming ‘illegally collected problem gambler’s data’

Goodfon

Flutter-owned betting firm Sky Betting & Gaming have been accused of illegally collecting data from a ‘problem gambler’ to target them with marketing, a High Court judge ruled in London on 23 January. 

Sky Betting & Gaming were found guilty of breaching UK data protection laws when they collected the anonymous claimant’s data via cookies, without sufficient consent. They then used the data to target the vulnerable customer with personalised direct marketing messages between 2017 and 2019. 

Ravi Naik, a lawyer at data rights agency AWO, who represented the claimant in this case, said: “Hopefully this judgment will reduce harm to vulnerable people by serving as a warning to online gambling companies.”

A spokesperson for Sky Betting & Gaming replied: “We fundamentally disagree with this judgment and will be considering an appeal. 

“We have made significant changes to our controls and processes over the past six years as part of our ongoing investment behind safer gambling and will continue to do so.”

The claimant, who under law has to remain anonymous in such a High Court case, is believed to have lost more than £45,000 in the 10 years he was a customer of Sky Bet. 

Flutter, who also own Paddy Power and US-based sports betting giant FanDuel, should under UK law have known that he was a problem gambler and should not have shared his details with a third party. 

However, the judge did note that this verdict is only applicable to this unique case and recognises the time that has passed since it happened. 

A period of time where the industry, including Sky Bet, have improved their policies and practices to ensure such an instance never happens again. 

‘Coalition to end gambling ads’, a campaign that aims to immediately restrict gambling advertising, commented on the issue. Their director, Will Prochaska, said: “This case gives us a little window into one operator’s processes but this appears to be normal practice by all licensed online gambling operators in Britain. 

“We’ve seen far too many instances of people being hounded by gambling operators when it’s obvious to anybody that their losses are unaffordable and causing them harm.” 

This is not the first time that Sky Betting & Gaming have been in trouble with the UK Gambling Commission. Back in 2022, the company was fined £1.2m for sending promotional emails to customers who had self-excluded. 

Then, in 2023, the Information Commissioner’s Office claimed the company was sharing people’s personal information with third parties without their consent during a three month period. 

Sky Betting and Gaming has claimed that since this happened, they have improved their process and now carry out financial vulnerability checks and place deposit limits on customers who return after a period of self-exclusion.

Recently, Pragmatic Play secured an exclusive live casino deal with Flutter in the UK&I - which will also be supplied on the Sky Bet platform also.