Sky Vegas was fined £1.2mln for emailing promotional offers with free casino spin rewards to recovering gambling addicts.
The company, which is owned by global gambling firm Flutter Entertainment PLC (LSE:FLTR), sent "bet £5 get 100 free spins” to 41,395 customers that had removed themselves from gambling to try to stop.
“Self-excluded customers are likely to be suffering gambling harm and should absolutely not be sent direct marketing that could tempt them back into gambling," Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission chief executive, said.
Another 249,159 customers who had unsubscribed from its market emails received the promotion during the industry's annual Safer Gambling Week.
“Here at Sky Vegas, we love the unexpected,” one email said. “That’s right. Simply opt-in, spend £5, and claim your 100 free spins. The best part? Whatever you win is yours to keep – that’s the fun in fair,” another read.
“As soon as the error was identified, we ceased communications until the fault could be rectified, notified regulators, and apologised to the affected customers," Conor Grant, Flutter UK and Ireland chief executive, commented.
The government is currently re-evaluating gambling laws and will release proposals in a white paper in the coming weeks.
This comes following several fines issued to gambling companies for failing to protect vulnerable people, the Guardian said.
888 Casino, which is in the process of acquiring William Hill's UK assets, was fined £9.4mln last week for allowing customers to accumulate huge debt and losses during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Bet Victor was given a £2mln penalty last month for failures in fairness, money-laundering controls, and social responsibility.
“This latest fine would have been a lot higher had Sky Betting & Gaming allowed any of the self-excluded customers to actually gamble," Rhodes added.