A recent investigation into the online gambling industry in the United Kingdom has raised significant concerns regarding data privacy practices. The study alleges that nearly nine out of 10 licensed gambling websites are failing to adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mandates strict standards for how companies collect, store, and process personal information.

The core of the issue involves the use of "cookie" banners—the pop-up notifications that appear when a user first visits a website to request consent for data tracking. According to the findings, these banners are frequently designed in a way that may not meet the legal requirements for transparency and user choice. The report characterizes these practices as a form of "data surveillance," suggesting that companies are tracking customer behavior in ways that exceed the scope of what users have explicitly authorized.

While the study provides a broad overview of the industry's compliance failures, it does not name specific gambling operators, nor does it provide a direct response from the industry trade bodies or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which oversees data protection in the UK. The report serves as a critique of the current digital landscape in the gambling sector, suggesting that the drive for user data often overrides the legal protections afforded to consumers under current privacy laws. As of now, there has been no official statement from the gambling industry addressing these specific allegations of systemic non-compliance.