The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has fined online gambling business Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming and owned by Flutter Entertainment, with £1.17 million ($2.23 million) for sending promotional emails to customers who had self-excluded or opted out of receiving marketing communications.
The actions are considered a breach in license conditions that are in place to ensure responsible gambling in Britain. The Social responsibility code of practice 5.1.11 states that, unless expressly permitted by law consumers must not be contacted with direct electronic marketing without their informed and specific consent.
The failure to comply took place on 2 November 2021 when Sky Vegas, sent out a promotional offer of “Bet £5 get 100 free spins” to 41,395 self-excluded customers and 249,159 customers who had unsubscribed to receive any marketing emails.
In an official press release, Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission Chief Executive, said:
“Self-excluded customers are likely to be suffering gambling harm and should absolutely not be sent direct marketing that could tempt them back into gambling. We would advise all operators to learn from Sky Betting and Gaming’s costly errors and ensure their systems are robust enough to always prevent the self-excluded, and those who have clearly rejected marketing, from receiving promotional material.”
Rhodes added:
“This latest fine would have been a lot higher had Sky Betting and Gaming allowed any of the self-excluded customers to actually gamble, failed to cooperate, and not taken decisive action aimed at preventing a repeat.”
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