Online bookies accused of UK privacy breaches with use of cookie banners

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Prefer the Guardian on Google Online bookmakers and casinos have been accused of widespread non-compliance of information privacy requirements, including “data surveillance” of customers, according to a study.

Nearly nine out of 10 (86%) licensed British gambling websites appear to be flouting the general data protection regulation (GDPR), the strict rules governing how organisations can collect, store and process personal data, according to the research.

But a study by researchers at the University of Swansea’s GREAT Centre found that big operators in the gambling industry appear to lag far behind.

Operators that did not provide an option to turn off tracking included the Brentford FC sponsor Hollywood Bets, and Admiral Casino, owned by the high-street slot machine firm of the same name.

Two-thirds of operators began harvesting users’ data before they had given their consent for it to be collected, the study found. They included well-known operators such as Ladbrokes and William Hill. Operators are allowed to do this for legitimate reasons, such as ensuring a customer is logging on from the UK, but researchers found that data was sent to third-party analytics platforms used for marketing.