ICO Acts Against Sky Betting and Gaming Over Cookies

The UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has acted against an online gambling company found to be “unlawfully processing” consumers’ data.

The ICO has issued a reprimand to Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming.

The ICO found that between January 10 and March 3 2023, Sky Betting and Gaming processed personal information as soon as people visited the SkyBet site and shared it with advertising technology companies.

This happened before users had the chance to accept or reject advertising cookies.

“This meant their personal information could be used to target them with personalised adverts without their prior consent or knowledge,” the ICO said.

Following a complaint from the group Clean Up Gambling, the ICO investigated whether Sky Betting and Gaming was targeting vulnerable gamblers by misusing personal information.

No Deliberate Misuse

The ICO found that there was no deliberate misuse, but that “Sky Betting and Gaming was processing personal data through the use of certain cookies in a way that was not lawful, transparent or fair.”

One of the companies contracted by Bonne Terre, Media Math, used a pixel embedded within SkyBet to set approximately 40 third-party marketing cookies on site visitors’ devices, before they had a chance to give consent via the site’s consent management platform. This meant that “personal data was made available to and processed by AdTech Vendors without visitors’ valid consent.”

The ICO informed Bonne Terre of the problem on March 2 2023 and the company had fixed it by March 3 2023.

The regulator issued a reprimand, after taking into account representations from the company, including its regulation under the Gambling Act 2005, and the terms of its commercial arrangements with MediaMath.

Read more about cookie misuse: TikTok Fined Over $5m for Cookie Violations

The ICO told Bonne Terre that it should “continue to review and monitor its processes” to ensure that any non-essential tags and cookies are only used with consent.

“Our enforcement action against Sky Betting and Gaming is a warning that there will be consequences if organisations breach the law, and people are denied the choice over targeted advertising,” said Stephen Bonner, ICO deputy commissioner.

The action comes as the ICO is clamping down on websites that use personal data without proper consent.