Key points:
- Personal data was used for targeted marketing
- The claimant described himself as a recovering online gambling addict
A High Court judgement has ruled that Sky Betting & Gaming unlawfully used the personal data of a customer for profiling and targeted marketing.
The court found that the Flutter Entertainment owned company’s use of cookies for personalised direct marketing and its direct marketing to the customer involved in this case were not processed in accordance with the law.
The claimant described himself as a recovering online gambling addict, and AWO, who represented him, have said he gambled with Sky Betting & Gaming for nearly ten years and lost over £45,000 ($55,883.02).
It has been noted with the case that the customer’s private data had been shared with third parties illegally, which led to the targeted marketing.
Good to know: This is not the first time Sky Betting & Gaming has faced related legal action. In 2021 a data breach led to recovering and vulnerable addicts receiving ‘free spins’ offers, while in 2023, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reprimanded the company for unlawful data processing via cookies
AWO have said: “The groundbreaking ruling is a legal first for online marketing and the related legal principles, and could have major implications for the multi-billion-pound online gambling sector in the UK and the online advertising industry as a whole.
“It raises the prospect that not only SBG, but also other gambling companies, have been illegally profiling thousands – if not tens of thousands – of their vulnerable customers for years."
In other legal news this week, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has initiated a class action lawsuit against Sportsbet in the Supreme Court of Victoria, challenging the legality of the operator’s Fast Code in-play betting service.
