The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Bonne Terre Limited, trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, for unlawfully processing people’s data through advertising cookies without their consent.  

According to the information watchdog, from 10 January to 3 March 2023, Sky Betting and Gaming was processing people’s personal information and sharing it with advertising technology companies as soon as they accessed the SkyBet website – before they had the option to accept or reject advertising cookies.

This means their information could be used to target them with personalised adverts without their prior knowledge or consent.

The ICO investigated whether Sky Betting and Gaming was deliberately misusing people’s personal information to target vulnerable gamblers, following a complaint from Clean Up Gambling. 

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 the ICO’s 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.  

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

Following that intervention, 52 of those websites made changes to how they used advertising cookies. 

Stephen Bonner, deputy commissioner at the ICO, said: “I’m pleased to see changes being made as a result of our intervention, with 99 of the top 100 websites either already offering a meaningful choice over advertising cookies or making improvements to gain people’s consent.

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“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.”

As part of the ICO’s strategy to ensure people’s rights are upheld by the online advertising industry, it has audited a number of data management platforms to understand how the wider industry handles people’s personal information. Some of these platforms are now under investigation for potentially failing to comply with data protection law.