The protection of vulnerable gamblers has been high on priority list of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for some time now, and several online casinos have fallen foul of the commission due to their lack of compliance with regulations around that issue.The latest name to be added to the list of those fined by the UKGC is Skybet, who have been ordered to pay £1 million after three separate regulation breaches.
The breaches
The first Skybet breach occurred between 2014 and 2017, and allowed over 700 players who had opted to exclude themselves from playing at the site being able to open duplicate amounts and keep gambling at the Skybet site.The second breach saw around 50,000 players who had previously opted for self-exclusion being sent marketing material by Skybet, via e-mail, text, or push notifications on a mobile app.The final breach of the UKGC’s regulations occurred when nearly 37,000 self-excluded customers did not have their funds returned to them after they closed their accounts.
A warning
Speaking of the fine, Richard Watson, Programme Director at the UKGC, said:“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.“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.”£750,000 of the £1,008,600 fine will be paid to charities for responsible causes in lieu of a financial penalty to Skybet, who have taken full responsibility and apologised for the actions that led to the breaches that, ultimately, led to this fine.