Sky Betting & Gaming has won its appeal in a UK data protection dispute that could have wider implications for how gambling operators assess marketing consent.
According to Wiggin, which represented Sky Betting & Gaming in the case, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed the operator’s appeal against an earlier High Court ruling connected to direct marketing emails sent to a claimant described in the judgment as a self-declared problem gambler.
At the centre of the dispute was whether the claimant had given valid consent to receive direct marketing. The High Court had previously found that Sky Betting & Gaming’s marketing was unlawful, concluding that the claimant’s gambling disorder meant consent was not valid.
That first-instance ruling drew attention because it introduced a new approach to consent under the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
According to the appeal summary, the lower court treated consent as depending on whether the individual subjectively intended to consent or whether the choice was autonomous.
The Court of Appeal rejected that approach. It found that the legal test for consent is objective and must be assessed against the established UK GDPR standards, namely whether consent is specific, informed, unambiguous and freely given.
The appeal court also held that what a controller knows, or ought reasonably to know, about a data subject is not relevant when deciding whether consent was freely given.
That point is likely to be closely watched beyond gambling, given the case’s relevance to data controllers more broadly.
The Information Commissioner intervened in the appeal and argued that the High Court had applied the wrong legal test. The Court of Appeal ultimately found in Sky Betting & Gaming’s favour on all five grounds.
The case will now be remitted to the High Court for a further hearing because the original judgment did not determine a number of issues that had been pleaded from the outset.
For gambling operators, the ruling provides judicial guidance on how consent for direct marketing should be tested under UK data protection law. That comes at a time when compliance around customer contact, consumer protection and data handling remains under close scrutiny across the British market.
The decision concerns one of Flutter’s best-known UK-facing brands and comes months after leadership changes at the business. In December 2025, GGI reported that Steve Birch would leave Sky Betting & Gaming after 18 years, having previously served as CEO before moving into the role of CCO under Flutter ownership.
The judgment means the underlying dispute has not been finally resolved, because the case must still return to the High Court for reconsideration
