The 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.
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 could accept or reject advertising cookies. This meant that their personal information could be used to target them with personalised adverts without their prior consent or knowledge.
The ICO investigated if 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 ICO concluded that Sky Betting and Gaming was processing personal data by using 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.
The enforcement action comes as the ICO 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.
Last year, the ICO reviewed the UK’s top 100 websites and discovered issues with how more than half of these websites were using advertising cookies. They wrote to those companies 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 all but one of the websites making changes to how advertising cookies are used.
Out of the 53 websites contacted, only gossip website Tattle Life has not engaged with the ICO and will now be investigated for its use of cookies and apparent failure to register with the ICO.
The ICO has also said that it will publish updated guidance for consultation later this year on the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies, as well as its position on the ‘consent or pay’ business model following a consultation.
