The UK Gambling Commission has fined Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, over self-exclusion breaches.
According to the Commission, Sky Betting and Gaming’s Sky Vegas brand distributed a promotional offer of “Bet £5 and get 100 free spins” to 41,395 self-excluded customers and 249,159 customers who had unsubscribed from the gambling operator’s marketing emails.
The actions breached the UK Gambling Commission’s license conditions for socially responsible gambling. However, the Commission reports that Sky Betting and Gaming took immediate action and cooperated with the Commission’s investigation into the issue.
Andrew Rhodes, the Gambling Commission Chief Executive, said in a statement: “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 system are robust enough to always prevent the self-excluded, and those who have clearly rejected marketing, from receiving promotional material.”
He 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.”
The news comes after the UK Gambling Commission fined operator 888 UK Limited £9.4 million for money laundering and social responsibility failings, and after the Commission fined operator BV Gaming Limited – trading as BetVictor – £2 million for similar issues.
