Sky Vegas fined £1.17m for marketing to vulnerable consumers

The firm - which trades as Sky Betting and Gaming - distributed a Sky Vegas promotional offer of “Bet £5 get 100 free spins” to 41,395 self-excluded customers, as well as 249,159 customers who had unsubscribed from the operator’s marketing emails.

These actions breached licence conditions aimed at ensuring gambling in Britain is socially responsible.

Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission - which handed out the fine - said: “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 systems are robust enough to always prevent the self-excluded, and those who have clearly rejected marketing, from receiving promotional material.”

It follows enforcement action taken by the regulator in recent weeks against operators 888 and BetVictor which saw financial penalties totalling £11.4m. 

Last week (1 March), 888 received a £9.4m fine after a Gambling Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and money laundering failings. The operator has also received an official warning and will undergo extensive independent auditing. 

BetVictor, meanwhile, received its fine two weeks ago (24 February) and will pay a total of £2m after the regulator conducted an investigation that revealed fairness, social responsibility and money laundering failings.