Today, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that the online gambling operator Bonne Terre Limited, which trades as Sky Betting and Gaming, will have to pay a monetary fine of £1.17 million because it found the operator to have been sending emails promoting its services to customers who had self-excluded from gambling or chose not to receive marketing materials.
The UKGC’s investigation showed that on November 2nd, 2021 the online gambling company distributed a promotional offer for its Sky Vegas brand to a total of 249,159 customers who had chosen not to receive any marketing emails from the company and 41,395 customers who had excluded themselves from online gambling services. The country’s gambling watchdog found that the aforementioned actions violated licence conditions aimed at making sure that the gambling services offered in the UK are socially responsible.
As noted by the CEO of the UKGC, Andrew Rhodes, customers who have taken advantage of the self-exclusion option, are likely to be facing gambling-related harm. According to Mr Rhodes, such people should not receive any direct marketing materials that could lure them back into gambling. This is why the gambling watchdog advised all operators to take into account the costly errors of Sky Betting and Gaming and make sure their systems could prevent such promotional materials from being sent to customers who have opted out of receiving marketing, not to mention the self-excluded people.
Mr Rhodes explained that the fine faced by the gambling company would have been much bigger if Sky Betting and Gaming had allowed any of the self-excluded players to actually gamble, or if it had failed to cooperate or had fallen short of decisive action to prevent another failure.
UKGC Finds Sky Betting and Gaming Breached Provisions of the Social Responsibility Code of Practice
As mentioned above, an investigation held by the UKGC found that Bonne Terre Limited, more popular as Sky Betting and Gaming, had failed to comply with a few provisions of the Social Responsibility Code of Practice (SRCP).
The gambling operator has breached clauses 3.5.3(2) and 5.1.11 from the SRCP in terms of taking steps to prevent sending any marketing materials to self-excluded gamblers and not contacting customers who have opted out of receiving such marketing materials. Furthermore, the UKGC found that Sky Betting and Gaming’s failure to comply with the provisions of the Social Responsibility Code of Practice is a violation of a licence condition included in section 82(1) of the country’s Gambling Act of 2005.
The country’s gambling regulatory body announced that it has decided to impose a financial penalty worth £1.17 million under the gambling operator under section 121(1) of the Gambling Act. The penalty was imposed in line with the Licensing, compliance and enforcement policy statement of the UKGC, as well as the Statement of principles for determining financial penalties.
The UK gambling regulator, however, acknowledged that Sky Betting and Gaming has immediately taken remedial action to make things right. The online gambling company has also fully cooperated with the watchdog throughout the investigation.
- Author
Olivia Cole
