Gambling Websites Secretly Sharing Data with Facebook Without Consent

Gambling companies have been secretly tracking visitors to their websites and sharing their data to Facebook’s parent company without explicit consent in a serious breach of data protection laws.

This unlawful data transfer has allowed Meta the power to profile people as gamblers and then target them with a flood of betting advertisements, this raises serious concerns over privacy and ethical marketing practices.

The investigation by The Observer found that numerous gambling sites embedded the Meta Pixel tracking tool on their websites. This tool captures data based on users’ interactions, including the webpages they visit and the buttons they click, before they have even had the opportunity to give their consent to this. As a result, users’ data is being transmitted automatically without explicit permission, a direct breach of UK data protection laws.

Of the 150 gambling websites tested, 52 have been found to be sharing user data with Meta without consent. Among those have been well-known gambling websites such as Hollywoodbets, Sporting Index, Lottoland and Bwin. The data sharing occurred as soon as the webpage loaded, meaning users were being tracked and profiled without any awareness or agreement.

Following the page visits, the tester was bombarded with Facebook adverts for gambling websites with offers including free bets, a “new player offer” and a chance to “win up to 5,000 times your bet”. In a single browsing session, they were shown ads from 49 different brands, including ones that the tester did not visit.

Under UK data protection laws, businesses must obtain explicit consent before collecting and sharing user data for marketing purposes. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 set clear guidelines requiring companies to be transparent about how they process personal data. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reinforced that failure to obtain proper consent before sharing data with third parties, such as Meta, constitutes a breach of the law.

Prominent figures, including Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, have called for immediate intervention, condemning the gambling industry’s data practices as “out of control”. Similarly, data privacy experts have criticised Meta for ignoring unlawful data practices while benefiting from targeted marketing profits.

In September 2024, the ICO reprimanded Sky Betting & Gaming for unlawfully processing user data through advertising cookies. The ICO said it investigated Bonne Terre Ltd, trading as Sky Betting & Gaming, after a complaint was made by the campaign group Clean Up Gambling. The group alleged the company was misusing its customers’ personal data to target vulnerable gamblers.

On this occasion, the ICO said it found no evidence to support the suggestion from Clean Up Gambling that Sky Betting & Gaming had deliberately targeted vulnerable gamblers. It did, however, find that the company had processed people’s data through the use of advertising cookies, without their consent, over a seven-week period between January and March 2023. The ICO emphasised that this was a serious cause for concern, as the misuse of data, particularly in sensitive areas such as gambling, can have significant consequences.

At Barings Law, we specialise in data breach claims and can help you take legal action against gambling companies who are suspected of unlawfully sharing your personal information.

Barings Law will act on your behalf on a no-win no-fee basis, meaning there is no risk to you. However, it is important that you cooperate with our legal teams at every stage.

All you need to do is click the button below and fill in a short form. From there our legal experts will assess your case to see if you have a valid claim, they will then contact you to get the ball rolling.