The parent of Sky Betting and Gaming has been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office for for unlawfully processing people’s data through advertising cookies without their consent.

Issued to parent Bonne Terre Ltd, the ICO claims between 10th January and 3rd March 2023, the company was processing people’s personal information and sharing it with advertising technology companies as soon as they accessed the SkyBet website. This was before they had the option 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. 

While no evidence of deliberate misuse was found, the regulator concluded 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.

As a result of our investigation, Sky Betting and Gaming made changes in March 2023 to ensure that people could reject advertising cookies before their personal information was shared for these purposes.

Stephen Bonner, deputy commissioner, said: “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.

“We are preparing to scrutinise the next 100 most frequented websites, so I urge all organisations to assess their cookie banners now to make sure consent can be freely given before a letter arrives from the regulator.”

Action Taken

The ICO said this enforcement action comes as it is working to crack down on websites that do not offer people a fair and informed choice over whether they want their personal information to be used for targeted advertising.

An ICO statement said: “Last year, we reviewed the UK’s top 100 websites and discovered issues with how more than half of these websites were using advertising cookies. We wrote to these 53 to warn that they faced enforcement action if they did not make changes to advertising cookies to comply with data protection law.

“There has been a positive response to this call to action, with 52 of the websites making changes to how advertising cookies are used.”

In particular, the ICO named gossip website Tattle Life as the only website that has not engaged with them, and will now be investigated for its use of cookies and apparent failure to register with the regulator.

SC UK attempted to contact Tattle Life, but a ‘contact us’ message was rejected by its website.

Dan Raywood Senior Editor SC Media UK

Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.

He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.

Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.