Cookie and Privacy Policy
Privacy policy
Any time you use the website “(gamblingauthority.co.uk (UK site)”, it can automatically have access to some of your personalised details. This is done so you can have a wonderful experience throughout the website.
We process your personalised details, but we also ensure that we do this as transparently as possible and that it is done legally and lawfully. In this Privacy Policy (“the policy”), we will explain extensively how we handle and process your personalised details on this website.
The original language in which this policy is written is English. However, it can be translated into a different language, depending on the circumstances. While interpreting the translated version, where a dispute arises between the translated and original forms, the English form takes priority. The gamblingauthority.co.uk (UK site) can also decide to modify this policy at any time, and the changes will become operative as soon as they are published.
Some examples of the personalised details that we have access to include:
- Surname
- First name
- Other names
- Email address
- IP-address
- Timestamp
- Country
- Postcode
- Contact address
- Opt-in consent
- Log files
- Device details
- Other cookies with your personalised details
Reasons for personalised details and the legal grounds for processing
Reason
We need access to your personalised details for processing for several reasons. They are given below:
- We analyse the information in our records and systems to improve the website's accessibility and overall experience.
- The personalised details help us effectively understand and respond to user support issues.
- The details are processed to help us fulfil legal rights and regulatory obligations.
- To aid in creating and implementing security measures against cyber security threats.
- This will help us reach out to our users through newsletters and send promotional offers to users who have subscribed to them.
Before you can explore the services and products we offer on our website, the first requirement for you as a user is to give us consent to access and process your personalised details. You must fill out the consent form on the website the first time you try to visit the website. You cannot use the website if you do not fill out the form and permit us to access your personalised details. The details we collect help us understand your behavioural pattern on the website. These patterns include the kind of content you like, which we determine from the pages you open often, the time you spend on these pages, and your IP address.
One of the reasons your IP address is a very important detail that is needed is to help us identify the region you are located in. If the region is one where gambling is illegal, we can promptly block your access to the site. Having your IP address also helps us monitor the activities of a particular user and analyse the situation where there is a change in the user’s behavioural pattern. The analysis of this can help us forestall any foreseeable threat of cyberattacks.
We only make use of your personalised details for the purposes and required specifications explained above.
Legal grounds
Part of our legal duty is to educate you on the legality of our processing of your personalised details. They can be found below:
- We have your permission to access and process your personalised details
- It is our core responsibility to implement measures to prevent possible cyber-attacks. Where there is a threat to our cyber security systems, stopping the threat comes before your data rights.
- Profiling
This can be referred to as the automated process we use to classify our users' personalised details, which we have obtained to predict certain behavioural patterns relating to them. We also use this to analyse their preferences, health, interests, location, etc., to enable us to display relevant content to them when they visit the website.
The profiling begins when you consent to us accessing your details after visiting our website. The effect of this profiling is a rise in the targeted adverts you would be presented with. These targeted adverts will not only be on our website but also on third-party sites like Facebook or other social media sites. Also, the frequency at which you see these adverts will increase.
Another function of profiling is influencing the kind of offers that will be presented to you. Certain of the offers on the website are inspired by certain locations, and with the stored data we have accumulated over time, we are able to send these offers to users in the targeted location with similar interests based on their searches over time.
How your personalised details are obtained
A user's personalised details are obtained upon their first and continuous visit to the website. Personalised details can also be obtained when the user interacts with the website indirectly by visiting other third-party sites. We also get your personalised details if you have subscribed to our letters by being on our mailing list. Indirectly, we can access your personalised details through Facebook and other social media sites you use to interact with us.
When you register as our user and give consent for us to access your details, we then receive the necessary details we need. Where the details are gotten from Facebook, they are seen and represent our data processor or third party. We only receive your personalised details listed in our privacy policy. They do not share any other details with us. We have access to the details you have freely and willingly given us access to when you signed the consent form on our website.
Business partners
Transmission of personalised details
We must transfer your personalised details to an external party based on your request. We can also transmit your personalised details if required by Law.
Data processors
The website uses independent companies as data processors. The companies are mentioned below:
- Tumblr INC (Automatic)
- Reddit INC
- Ontraport LTD
- Google LLC
- Digital Ocean LLC
- Meta Platforms Ireland LTD
- Ongage LTD Amazon INC
- Pinterest INC
- Twitter INC
- Microsoft INC
- LinkedIn INC
- Sendgrid LTD
- Cloudflare INC
Transfer of data to other countries
There are certain times when we have to send your personalised details to other companies not domiciled in the EU or EEA when handling them.
The companies are mostly in the USA, and they are listed below:
- Tumblr INC (Automatic)
- Reddit INC
- Ontraport LTD
- Google LLC
- Digital Ocean LLC
- Meta Platforms, Ireland LTD
- Ongage LTD Amazon INC
- Pinterest INC
- Twitter INC
- Microsoft INC
- LinkedIn INC
- Sendgrid LTD
- Cloudflare INC
According to the EU, the US lacks personalised data security measures. However, the companies we affiliate with listed above have been declared safe areas when they became part of the European Union-United States of America Privacy Shield Agreement.
Retaining and deletion of personalised details
The website's retention policy is 5 years. All Log files and personalised details are stored for 5 years, after which they are subsequently deleted.
We keep the user’s personalised details only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose we got them for. The only exception is when we are obligated by law to keep such details for longer. An example of such a legal obligation is the requirement to keep accountancy and financial records for five years starting from the current year.
Rights of users
Users have several rights that can be exercised at any time. To exercise them, users must contact us through our contact information, as described in this policy.
- Correction of personalised details: You can correct the wrong personalised details on the website.
- Deleting of personalised details: There are circumstances where you can request the website to delete your personalised details before the website’s data retention period
- Awareness: You have the right to know how your personalised details are processed and anything else you need to know about how we handle your personalised data. However, this right cannot be at the expense of other users.
- Withdrawal: As a user of our website, you can decide to withdraw your consent to process your personalised details. This can be either a full or partial withdrawal. When you withdraw your consent, it does not affect any legitimate processing we have already done; it only stops further processing of your details.
- Restriction: You can request a restriction on processing your personalised details. This can only be allowed in special circumstances. After you exercise this right, we can only process your details further with your explicit consent (except for storage purposes), to fulfil a regulatory requirement, or to safeguard public or third-person interest.
- Portability: You can request that your personalised details in our possession be forwarded to you in an organised and systematic format. This format must be readable and easy to transfer to another service provider.
- Right to oppose: In some situations, you can oppose the method by which we process your personalised details, even if the process is done lawfully. You can also oppose the use of your personalised details in our marketing campaigns.
Complaints
We try to resolve user-related issues as quickly and efficiently as possible. Users can reach us by completing a Contact Form on our website. For more information, kindly go through the menu titled “Contact Us” on the website.
It is our pleasure to resolve any issues you encounter when using the website. However, you may also decide to report the issues to a local authority that has jurisdiction over how we use your personalised details or the issues you encounter.
Cookie policy
The original language in which this cookie policy is written is English. However, it can be translated into a different language, depending on the circumstances. While interpreting the translated version, where a dispute arises between the translated and original forms, the English form takes priority. The gamblingauthority.co.uk (UK site) can also decide to modify this policy at any time, and the changes will become operative as soon as they are published.
What are cookies?
They are small text files saved by a website on your device (smartphones, computers, etc.) when you visit the website. The cookies are created when you visit the website using the browser. They store details like your IP address, location, preferred language, etc. This information allows the website to present you with content that has been customised to fit your needs. Cookies do not contain viruses or any other malicious code. Rather, they help the website function properly. We use several types of cookies while operating our website.
Using the website shows that you accept the use of cookies, both internal and third-party cookies, but this does not stop you from deleting or blocking cookies at any time.
However, when cookies are blocked or deleted, the website's functionality is tampered. As a result, the website may not function as it ought to, and the user may be unable to access certain content. When you block or delete cookies, pre-save information on your preferences housed by the cookies will also be deleted, causing you to be presented with adverts and campaigns that will be of no interest to you with high frequency.
As with several other websites, we use Log files. These log files are automatically generated by the website for use. Cookies are stored in Log files on our systems. The data saved in the Log files are shown below:
- Frequently visited pages
- IP Address to know the user’s Location
- The average time the user visits and spends on the website
The Log files help us understand the amount of traffic generated by our website from various locations. Although they do not give us the exact location of a user, we can get details on the geographical location, such as the town or city from which the user is visiting our website. This information is obtained from the IP address saved in the log files.
These Log files also help monitor our cybersecurity measures. We constantly monitor the IP Addresses for any unusual activity that may be a signal of a cybersecurity breach on our website. Unusual activities could represent an unauthorised person, possibly a hacker, trying to access our systems.
Log files and the information they contain are retained for 5 years. After 5 years, all the information is permanently deleted. To further understand how your personalised details are processed, please read the website’s privacy policy.
Uses of cookies
Listed below are how we make use of cookies on our website:
- To properly understand and record the behavioural patterns of users
- To enhance our marketing strategies
- To ensure the optimal functioning of our website
- To effectively monitor our business partners
Further details on the above can be found below:
- Cookies are necessary to help us understand a user’s behavioural pattern while using the website. Cookies supply us with information on the device the user is using, the adverts that made them visit the website, the time they use the website, and their favourite pages to visit on the website. Cookies are also used to accurately analyse adverts and affiliated third-party links that are accessed from our website.
- The data stored on cookies enhances marketing strategies and User Experience (UX) on the website. Cookies are used to restrict the adverts shown to our users, so they are only shown adverts that may be relevant and useful to them.
- The data stored using cookies allows us to track the services and adverts provided by our business partners on our website. We can also monitor their fees and commissions.
- Some technical functionalities on the website use cookies to run and work perfectly. Some are also responsible for providing continuous upgrades on the website to fit the behavioural pattern of each user. Cookies help improve user experience (UX), as returning users no longer have to upload their details afresh, as these are already pre-saved by the cookies along with their other preferences. This gives the user time to explore our services fully and guarantees the user’s satisfaction.
Our cookies
We make use of certain cookies on our website, and they are:
| NAME OF COOKIE | COOKIE PROVIDER | USES |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Cloudflare | These are mostly security cookies that we use to protect and improve the security measures we carry out on the website. The cookies also help improve and speed up loading time. |
| Google Analytics | These are the cookies that help analyse your visits to the website. They provide us with your personalised details, such as the frequently visited pages, time spent, etc. |
Cookie retention
Cookies are stored based on their type.
Session cookies: These cookies last only a session. A session starts when you log in to the website and ends when you leave the website or close your browser.
Permanent cookies: They are stored on a user’s hard drive until they expire or until the user deletes the cookie. They are retained and stored longer and can be preset with an expiration date. We use them to collect identifying information about the user, such as the user's browsing behaviour, language preferences, menu preferences, and other user preferences on the website. The cookies provide the users with convenient and rapid access to familiar objects, which enhances the user’s experience (UX).
Flow cookies: We, as the website's owners, use flow cookies to communicate with our internal servers when a user is on the website. They are stored on the website to aid our communication with our servers.
Third-party cookies: These are cookies set up by a different website but placed on our website. We use them to interact with third-party servers, and they are usually retained for 4 to 6 months. Some third parties that use their cookies include Facebook, Google, and other social media pages.
Methods of avoiding cookies
Cookies can be deleted at any time. The user has the right to delete the cookies that have been saved on your device. You can do this when you round up every session on the website or after a certain period. To avoid deleting cookies after every session, you can set your device to disable cookies automatically. You will be notified if the device tries to save a cookie anytime you are on the website.
More information
For more information about the website, please see the Terms and conditions and the Advertising disclosure documents.
Last updated: 5 December 2024
Peter is our Editor-in-Chief at Gamblingauthority. He has more than eigth years of experience from the iGaming industry and is a valuable resource for everything related to online casinos.
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