The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have been urged by campaigners to investigate the advertising practices of operators targeting consumers.
The call for regulators to investigate the advertising algorithms and data tracking of operators follows a High Court ruling by Justice Collins Rice that Sky Betting and Gaming (Sky Bet) had violated UK data protection laws.
The High Court had arbitrated a former problem gambler’s case against Sky Bet for advertising to him without obtaining valid consent. Sky Bet was accused of using cookies to create an extensive profile of the problem gambler to target him with personalised adverts via third parties.
The gambler is reported to have lost £45,000 over a decade playing with Sky Bet. He was profiled as a ‘high-value customer’ and did not opt out of marketing communications.
Upon review of the evidence, Justice Collins Rice determined that Sky Bet had breached data protection laws, as its mechanisms for obtaining consent were insufficient. Furthermore, Sky Bet had previously been reprimanded by the ICO following a complaint brought forward by Clean Up Gambling.
Sky Bet’s wider ramifications
This weekend, The Guardian reported that campaigners for gambling reform believe that Sky Bet’s case has ramifications for the wider industry and its advertising and data processing practices. Though online operators are subject to new advertising safeguards ensuring consent, campaigners argue that “the industry has repeatedly failed to identify gamblers who are at the greatest risk of harm”.

Calls for further intervention on advertising and data processing are led by Will Prochaska, founder of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, who believes that tracking without consent is widespread throughout the sector.
In a LinkedIn post referencing the Sky Bet ruling, Prochaska stated: “This case could be seismic for the gambling industry though—if it stops operators from using customers’ data against them.
“It will inevitably lead to questions for the regulator too. Why has the Gambling Commission permitted such unethical marketing practices for so long?”
Changes coming in 2025
Changes in direct marketing will be applied by the UKGC from 1 May 2025. Online operators must “provide customers with options to opt in to the product types they are interested in receiving and the channels through which they wish to receive marketing.”
Operators must give customers control over the direct gambling offers they wish to receive and ensure they do not receive marketing they have not consented to.
Pre-empting the Gambling Review changes, in December 2023, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) applied the practices of its seventh Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising. Known as the IGRG Code, the adverts of BGC members displayed on digital platforms must be targeted at consumers aged 25 and over, with online adverts applying a targeting filter where possible.
Though an age-gating restriction of 25+ was applied to strengthen safeguards on digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, the code makes no mention of valid consent.
Meanwhile, data is solely referenced as “a requirement that sponsored/paid-for digital media advertisements must be targeted to consumers aged 25+, where digital media platforms provide a 25+ age filter. This measure adds an additional level of assurance around the age of consumers where operators do not hold any first-party data about the consumers targeted (i.e. where operators are wholly reliant on self-certified third-party data, which may not always be correct).”
Consent is a complex condition
The BGC has declined to comment on the High Court ruling, as Flutter, the owner of Sky Bet, is “considering an appeal,” stating that it “never shares data with companies outside of its group for them to use for their own marketing”.
Legal experts have underlined the specific circumstances and complexities of the judgment in Sky Bet’s case. In determining Sky Bet’s faults, Justice Collins Rice had to interpret a specific analysis of consent, considering:
- The subjective state of mind—whether the individual truly understood and agreed,
- The autonomy in the procedure—whether the method of giving consent allowed for genuine choice,
- The evidentiary standard—whether the Defendant could prove consent was properly obtained.
As detailed by Justice Rice’s notes: “I have been at pains to set out, a decision confined to the particular circumstances of this case, and to the particular historical period in question. Other cases will have different facts and circumstances, particularly as, I am told, SBG’s own policies and practices, and those of the wider online gambling industry, have since evolved so as even further to reduce the risk of the emergence of claimants such as the present one.”
The case now moves to a remedial hearing, where further proceedings will determine financial compensation for losses and damages for distress caused by the unlawful marketing.
The Gambling Commission expects all operators to review the latest judgment and the ICO ruling against Sky Bet, emphasising that operators must follow data protection laws when using customer data, with a focus on preventing gambling harm.
Labour monitoring advertising conduct

Last week concluded with DCMS resuming committee hearings on the implementation of proposals from the Gambling Review’s white paper. The Sky Bet case was not mentioned by ministers in attendance; however, debate resumed on the legislation of gambling advertising and whether further restrictions and protections are required.
Stephanie Peacock, DCMS Undersecretary for Sports and Media, stated that advertising legislation and conduct will be a priority in the proceedings of the Gambling Review, alongside the assessment of black-market exposures, the evaluation of affordability checks, and a review of the £5 stake limits applied to online slots.
Calls for stringent restrictions on pervasive gambling advertising were led by Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Liberal Democrat DCMS shadow minister Max Wilkinson.
Peacock noted gambling advertising as a point of outstanding conflict for the Gambling Review, in which Labour maintains its stance to consider all new evidence before applying new laws or standards.
DCMS refers to a Commons briefing given in October 2024 on “How Gambling Advertising is Regulated in the UK.” The government applies the current framework where “the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sister organisations of the ASA, are responsible for codifying advertising standards for the marketing industry through the CAP and BCAP Codes.”
On the matter of consent, the briefing referenced the White Paper recommendations that “the Commission work to strengthen consent for direct marketing for online gambling, with new and existing customers given more choice on what offers they want (including requiring consent to ‘cross-selling’ new products) and how marketing is sent to them.”
As the Gambling Review progresses, industry stakeholders and policymakers will need to address these concerns to ensure that operators uphold ethical marketing practices and prioritise consumer welfare.