Campaign group Clean Up Gambling has lodged a complaint about Sky Bet with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and asked the ICO to investigate how Sky Bet uses customer data for tracking purposes. .
The ICO told iGB it was evaluating the complaint, but was unable to comment further at these “early stages”. No comment on what constitutes further escalation beyond the initial check.
The complaints came in the form of a report commissioned by Skybet earlier this year by Clean Up Gambling, a gambling-harm charity led by Matt Zaab Cousin, which specifically looked into data practices, according to Clean Up Gambling. , the report showed that many data subjects were unaware of how their data was processed by Sky Bet.
For this reason, Clean Up Gambling has commissioned a “full investigation” into how Sky Bet and its third party companies process data.
The complaint alleges that SkyBet uses “invasive processing operations” to obtain data from both anonymous visitors to the site and those who have signed up, and that the process is “widespread illegal.” It is said that it is supported by “action”.
These processes include recording and storing data about what visitors do on our Platforms, sending this to third-party companies, and using your email address to find out further browsing and activity information. included.
Clean Up Gambling says they use these processes to create personal profiles. This includes information about how they would like to interact and how best to lure them back to playing on the Sky Bet platform.
The complaint highlights a number of specific allegations. Clean Up Gambling said the consent Sky Bet allegedly received for profiling and analysis was invalid because Sky Bet did not provide enough information for users to give informed consent. .
Additionally, the gambling victim group claimed that Sky Bet stores users’ data indefinitely. Clean Up Gambling reports that data on all customer interactions with SkyBet’s platform has been stored for over ten years.
The complaint also alleges that SkyBet’s website provided insufficient information regarding cookies and violated Rule 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
In addressing the overall structure of Sky Bet, Clean Up Gambling believes that there are various companies involved in data processing and not all of them are registered with the ICO, which entity is the main processor. concluded that it is not clear that
A spokesperson for Flutter (SkyBet’s parent company) said many of the claims in the Clean Up Gambling report were not true.
“Protecting our customers and their personal data is of utmost importance to Sky Betting & Gaming and other brands in the Flutter Entertainment group. based on information provided to the customer upon request by both third parties who
“So that information includes data that we didn’t know, and will never know, including personal and financial information.”
“All Flutter Entertainment companies do everything possible to provide their products in a safe and reliable manner, to actively protect their customers from harm, and to ensure that their business complies with laws and regulations. We manage customer data in a controlled manner, and we are obligated to do so.”
Earlier this year, the GB Gambling Commission fined Sky Bet £1.17 million. This is because Sky Bet sent promotional emails to self-excluded users.
