Sky Betting and Gaming has admitted to exposing recovering and vulnerable addicts to ‘free spins’ offers.

Up to 120,000 people, who had explicitly asked Sky Bet and its sister company Sky Vegas not to send them betting correspondence, were sent multiple promotional emails during Safer Gambling week in a “catastrophic mistake."

Gamstop mentioned the breach included up to six emails that offered gamblers ‘100 free online spins,’ after several of their 218,000 registered recovering gamblers were distressed from the received offers.

Tony Winterburn, Specialist Data Breach Lawyer and Legal Director of PGMBM, commented: “This mistake could cost people their recovery from gambling. These emails have already caused harm and distress to those who opted out of receiving gambling promotions for very good reason.”

The law firm has requested that Sky Betting and Gaming shares details about the scale of the error with impacted customers, so that any players struggling with addiction could be provided with support as soon as possible.

Because of the breach, recovering addicts who had voluntarily excluded themselves from receiving gambling-related material were sent “inciting” emails from Sky Vegas.

Winterburn added: “Many of these people took brave and proactive steps, like registering with organisations such as Gamstop, to help themselves change their gambling behaviours.

"For them to have been inadvertently exposed to enticing advertisements is a complete betrayal of consumer trust.”