A UK High Court judge has ruled that Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG), a unit of Flutter Entertainment, breached data protection laws by illegally collecting and profiling a problem gambler’s personal data for marketing purposes.
Justice Collins Rice found that SBG had no lawful basis to gather the claimant’s information through cookies and use it for targeted advertising between 2017 and 2019. She described the company’s profiling practices as “parasitic”, raising broader concerns about how gambling firms handle customer data.
The anonymous claimant lost more than £45,000 ($57,000) over nearly 10 years with SBG. He argued that the company should have identified him as a problem gambler and should not have shared his data with third parties.
“Hopefully this judgment will reduce harm to vulnerable people by serving as a warning to online gambling companies,” said Ravi Naik, a lawyer representing the claimant from data rights agency AWO.
The case has sparked concerns about the wider use of customer data in the gambling industry, where firms analyze extensive data points to predict user behavior and encourage continued betting. Meanwhile, Sky Bet rejected the ruling, noting that it had overhauled its processes in recent years.
“We fundamentally disagree with this judgment and will be considering an appeal,” an SBG spokesperson said. “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 ruling could set a legal precedent for how UK gambling companies collect and use customer data. “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,” said Will Prochaska, director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads.
AWO called the decision a “landmark moment”, warning that it could expose other gambling companies to legal challenges over their data practices.
Sky Bet has already faced regulatory action for its marketing practices. In 2022, the UK Gambling Commission fined the company £1.17 million for sending promotional emails to self-excluded customers—a group meant to be shielded from gambling-related advertising.
In 2023, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reprimanded SBG for unlawfully processing users’ data and sharing it with ad tech firms without consent.
Amid rising concerns over gambling harm, the ICO recently announced a crackdown on online tracking practices, with gambling platforms among the key targets.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2025/01/27/93178-uk-high-court-rules-sky-bet-illegally-collected-problem-gamblers-data
