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GC sanctioned Sky Betting and Gaming with £1.17m fine
The UK GC sanctioned Sky Betting and Gaming with a penalty of £1.17mln/$1.5mln for sending advertising emails to people who had unsubscribed from marketing materials or adopted self-exclusion.
The gambling authority conducted an inquest in November and found out that Sky Betting had sent advertising letters of free spins to 249,000+ clients who had unsubscribed from advertising emails and 41,000+ people with self-exclusion.
The GC claims that it breaks Social Responsibility Code of Practice 3.5.3(2), according to which, operators should avoid sending promotional material to self-excluded clients.
The operator is also reported to have broken SRCP 5.1.11 rule which bans advertising emails without having clients’ consent.
In accordance with the Gambling Act 2005, the failure to obey the rules of SRCP is considered to be a breach of license condition.
As stated by the Commission, the operator took immediate steps to fix the issue, as well as cooperated during the whole process of investigation.
The head of GC, Andrew Rhodes, explained:
“People who adopted self-execution are probably addicts of wagering or had suffered from it. We should prevent sending promotional emails to them as it can tempt them to start wagering again”.
The fine of $1.5mln is issued based on section 121(1) of the Gambling Act.
“We encourage all iGaming companies to see and learn lessons from the failure of Sky Betting and make sure that they prevent such cases”.
According to Rhodes, the fine could be higher if the operator had not undertaken necessary steps, refused to cooperate or if allowed any self-excluded client to wager.
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