Flutter-owned Sky Vegas will be investigated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) following the news that known recovering gambling addicts were emailed a promotion that offered them “free” casino spins.
The promotional email was sent during the annual Safer Gambling Week, an initiative that Flutter, who owns multiple brands including Paddy Power, Betfair, and FanDuel, has been quite vocal about its support of in the last few days.
Also highlighted in today’s Q3 results, we continue to lead on #safergambling having recently announced measures to enhance the protection of younger customers in the UK & Ireland as part of our risk based “Triple Step” approach to affordability #SGWeek21 https://t.co/f7bgWnmyRQ
— Flutter plc (@FlutterPLC) November 2, 2021
Earlier this week, Flutter’s Sky Vegas sent a promotion to recovering addicts who were known to the company. The email encouraged the recipients to visit the site to gamble and win bonuses. The incident was first reported by The Guardian, but there has been no indication as to how Flutter were in possession of the contact details of the recovering addicts. However, reports do confirm that the people contacted were known to be self-excluding and recovering gambling addicts.
In one email, the addicts were asked to ‘Take a peek at what your mystery bonus is’ and told that ‘Whatever you win is yours to keep — that’s the fun in fair!’
The message is also believed to have included images of slot machines.
According to The Guardian, the recovering addicts who were sent the promotion were using GamStop’s app that prevents users from accessing gambling websites. One such person, Adam Peck, told the paper that he had received the email and had tried to access the site to place bets.
“How often is this happening? Can they ensure it doesn’t happen again? This is very dangerous. We’re talking about people’s lives.
They shouldn’t be targeting anyone, let alone people who’ve told them they have got a problem with gambling and it could be triggering. That it’s happened during Safer Gambling Week is perverse.”
Peck also tweeted his disgust at receiving the email.
I also received this email and I’m also self-excluded, and enrolled in Gamban and GamStop. pic.twitter.com/q46k66NCx0
— Adam Peck 💙 (@adzpeck) November 2, 2021
Flutter has form in this regard. The company was fined £1 million ($1.36 million) in 2018 for breaching the terms of its licensing agreement by sending promotional material to over 50,000 people.
Since the issue has come to light, the company has apologized tweeting the following message:
— Flutter plc (@FlutterPLC) November 4, 2021
Although the Gambling Commission has been informed of the serious breach of licensing terms, the regulator has remained silent on Flutter’s latest flouting of the rules and has yet to issue a statement.
Based in London, Natasha is a former sports journalist with experience working for some of the biggest athletes & brands in the world of sports and iGaming.