Sky Bet Accused of Illegal Data Practices by Campaign Group

Campaign group Clean Up Gambling has accused Sky Bet of widespread illegality and invasive processing operations. The group has submitted a complaint about Sky Bet's data practices to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The accusations come after Sky Bet was fined £1.17m ($1.54m) by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for sending emails to almost 300,000 customers who had opted out of promotional materials or had self-excluded.

The report commissioned by Clean Up Gambling found that Sky Bet records and stores customer data from visitors as well as customers, and then transmits the data to third-party companies. Matt Zarb-Cousin, the leader of Clean Up Gambling, described the alleged breaches as the sharp end of data abuse. Ravi Naik, legal counsel for Clean Up Gambling, stated that none of their clients knew they were being profiled, let alone that there were third parties involved. A spokesperson for Flutter Entertainment, the parent group of Sky Betting and Gaming, said that many of the claims in the report are inaccurate and are based on information provided to customers upon request by both Sky Betting & Gaming and third parties they work with.