A major brand in the UK casino sector has been told that it must pay a significant fine in a row over safer gambling.
SkyVegas.com has been told that it must pay a fine of £1.2m, which is roughly equivalent to US$1.5m.
The company has been accused of sending marketing collateral to people who were at the time recovering from gambling addiction problems.
The investigation was spearheaded by the Gambling Commission, which regulates the casino sector in the country.
The brand, managed by Sky Betting and Gaming, which is ultimately owned by Flutter Entertainment, is accused of having done this via email.
The alleged emails are supposed to have gone out to people who had chosen of their own volition to opt out of gambling marketing materials as a result of their addictions.
It is understood that the alleged messaging in question focused on a ‘Bet £5 get 100 free spins’ offer.
Over 40,000 self-excluders are understood to have been sent the message.
It is also alleged that around a quarter of a million people who had told the firm that they didn’t want to receive marketing information were also sent it.
In a statement, the chief executive of the Gambling Commission pointed out that the fine could, in different circumstances, have been much higher.
Andrew Rhodes claimed that there were some mitigating circumstances in Sky Betting and Gaming’s favor.
“This latest fine would have been a lot higher had Sky Betting and Gaming allowed any of the self-excluded customers to actually gamble, failed to cooperate, and not taken decisive action aimed at preventing a repeat,” he said.
Conor Grant, a senior figure for Flutter Entertainment, said that the firm had apologized over what had happened.
In a statement, Grant also pointed out the other measures that the company had taken to mitigate any damage caused.
“As soon as the error was identified, we ceased communications until the fault could be rectified, notified regulators, and apologized to the affected customers,” he said.
He went on to say that the company had acted fast to look into what happened.
“We also conducted a thorough investigation into what went wrong, the results of which were provided to regulators, and have put in place measures to ensure that this cannot happen again,” he said.
