Sky Betting and Gaming gets wrist slap for “unlawfully processing people’s data”

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK’s data privacy watchdog, has issued a reprimand to Sky Betting and Gaming after it was caught collecting gamblers’ data via cookies and selling it to advertisers.

The UK-based gambling firm was processing personal data and sharing it with advertisers, the ICO said. According to the agency, from 10th January to 3rd March 2023, Sky Betting and Gaming did not allow users to reject advertising cookies.

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

UK‘s data privacy guardians have investigated whether the gambling firm deliberately misused people‘s personal details and found no evidence of such activities. However, the ICO claimed 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.”

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

Sky Betting and Gaming set up a way for users to reject cookies in March 2023, the ICO said. Cookies are small files of data that a website sends to user browsers, allowing websites to remember information about the visit.

The ICO said that in 2023, UK regulators reviewed the UK’s Top 100 websites, discovering issues with over a half of them. 52 out of 53 websites with issues took action to adhere to regulations.

Earlier this year Cybernews noted that despite pressing the opt-out button, dozens and sometimes hundreds of vendors on a single website still think they have the “legitimate interest” to track your data.