Sky Bet fined £1m by the Gambling Commission for failing to protect vulnerable customers
Gambling business Sky Bet has been lumped with a £1m fine from the Gambling Commission, for failing to protect vulnerable customers.
The Commission found that Sky Bet’s “self-exclusion” service, which allows customers who feel they are having trouble controlling their gambling to request to be cut off, failed to work for the people who needed it.
Of the self-excluded customers, 736 were able to open and use duplicate accounts while around 50,000 still received marketing material by email, text or app notifications.
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Added to that, 36,748 people did not have their account balance returned to them when they asked to be cut off.
“This was a serious failure affecting thousands of potentially vulnerable customers and the £1m penalty package should serve as a warning to all gambling businesses,” said the commission’s Richard Watson.
Protecting consumers from gambling-related harm is a priority for us and where we see operators failing in their responsibility to keep their customers safe we will take tough action.
“Skybet reported the issues to us quickly, cooperated with us and has taken this investigation seriously.”
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Richard Flint, Sky Bet’s chief executive, this morning apologised for the failings.
“We have always taken responsible gambling and player protection very seriously but this incident showed that we needed to do more,” he said.
“We want to reassure people that we have not made any profit out of this episode. In relation to account balances, wherever possible and practical we have returned the money to the people involved.”
Sky Bet is not the first to fall foul of Gambling Commission rules, as a string of betting companies have been forced to up consumer protections in recent months.
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