Commissioned and published by the UK gambling advocacy organization Clean Up Gambling and together with the data rights agency AWO, Cracked Labs carried out a comprehensive investigation into data flows in the online gambling industry.

Digital Profiling in the Online Gambling Industry. A report on marketing and risk surveillance by the UK gambling firm Sky Betting and Gaming, TransUnion, Adobe, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other data companies. A report by Cracked Labs commissioned and published by Clean Up Gambling, January 2022. Author: Wolfie Christl.

Downloads

» Report (PDF, 61 pages)
» Technical Report (PDF, 129 pages)
» Executive summary (PDF, 5 pages)

The investigation lays out the scale and depth of behavioural surveillance and data practices used by online gambling operators. It provides extensive information about the scope of the data flows and the web of third-party companies that receive that data to build detailed and intimate profiles of individuals, often without their knowledge. Such profiles include indicators of personal vulnerability and addictive behaviours, which can then be used to target the most vulnerable.

» Website on the project by Clean Up Gambling

Legal conclusions

Clean Up Gambling and AWO filed a submission to the UK's data protection regulator ICO, assessing the legal implications of the evidence laid out in the report and calling for a wider investigation into the online gambling industry.

» Submission to the ICO (PDF, 54 pages)

Following our investigation, the ICO issued a reprimand to X, confirming our findings (Sept 2024).

Media coverage