Online Gambling: Personal Details Sold for Quick Cash
In an alleged shocking betrayal of player privacy by gambling companies that includes 888, William Hill and Full Tilt Poker, AustralianGambling.com.au has today obtained a sample of player details that has been sold and traded like a commodity. At the time of printing, they have all refused to clarify whether their trading of personal details is a breach of law.
Industry sources have advised that this shocking breach of privacy has far reaching consequences for sites and their compliance with relevant regulations. The possibility that some sites like Titan Poker trade the customer details of possibly addicted gamblers highlights the importance of proper regulation.
It is understood that highly regulated operators such as PartyPoker and PokerStars do not participate in such activities.
How the Personal Details of Gamblers are Sold
The alleged information was today handed out on a silver platter. After inquiring on an MSN conversation, AustralianGambling.com.au was given almost full details of the operation. This included the name of the person selling the data, who was helping him, the operators involved and what is claimed to be a sample 50 person excel sheet with full player details.
The way the system works is quite simple. Ryan Clegg buys data that he claims is real, on a regular basis from employees of online casinos, poker sites, sportsbooks, bookmakers and bingo sites. Clegg would not be drawn on whether the personal information being sold was traded with the knowledge of the online operators that it came from.
While Australian Gambling has today become aware of the practice of selling online gamblers' identities and other confidential details, Clegg maintains that he has been selling his information to the highest bidder for quite some time. When asked how often he buys gambling data he responded "It varies to be honest, could be every two weeks,could be a month."
The horrifying part of this alleged trade is that details including full names, residential addresses, dates of birth, email addresses and other financial information including amounts deposited and lost or won, is being sold for an agreed fee to whoever has enough money to purchase it.
While Clegg might consider he is selling targeted marketing information to online entrepreneurs; there is nothing to stop those who make their living from identity theft to use the details for far more sinister purposes. Clegg did not deny that credit card information was amongst the information he was selling, but said that for $8,000 we could buy the personal details of over 40,000 people.
Amongst the 40,000 on the alleged list could be many problem gamblers who have voluntarily opted out of the online gambling site, only for their personal details to be traded to someone else who will then begin directly marketing gambling promotions and deals toward them.
Ryan Clegg had no problem whatsoever in revealing what was in his data or the people involved. He showed what he alleges is the income statistics of Pete Walker, who had purchased the data yesterday and emailed the gamblers on it.
They Make Money from Marketing Stolen Personal Details
Pete Walker has been marketing the players on the data to Kerching Casino. Here is his report after less than 24 hours marketing:
Statistics Today This Month Clicks 0 25 Impressions 0 0 New Players 0 1 Active Players 0 2 Commission £0.00 £632.79 Validated Commission n/a £632.79
Commenting on the result, Clegg said "I asked him to provide me with log ins to where it was sent so I could see how it performs and he already has a smile on his face." He then went on to say "Pete knows a lot of operators directly and he even sells my data for me now, he has meetings with them; 888, Intercasino, Totesport etc."
Asked if he directly buys the data, Clegg replied "I have a contact who can get data as and when and I buy from him as he is not in the industry anymore and he also does not have a mailing facility."
When asked to divulge the informant's name he willingly said it was Frank Best. "Frank Best, as I said he is not in the gambling industry now and as not been for about 18 months. We used to run a media agency but we both went our separate ways."
Gambling Companies Involved
So who are the main offenders? Clegg revealed "Casino Tropez, Eurogrand, Casinojoy, 888, Intercasino, Spin Palace, 32 Red, William Hill, Europa Casino, Vegas Red, PlatinumPlay, Roxy Palace, they are the main ones." He then boasted "As I mentioned I have Ladbrokes, Betfair and ToteSport but also got William Hill and Coral for betting."
So what else does Ryan Clegg do besides sell gambling operators' data? "I sell placements on some gambling related sites for a friend of mine. He owns these sites if you know who owns them:"
www.onlinebingofriends.com www.fruitybonus.com www.onlinebingoroom.co.uk www.comparebingosites.com www.latestbingobonus.com www.bingoteacher.co.uk www.ukbingohall.co.uk www.freecardsbingo.com www.bingodating.co.uk www.bingohoroscopes.com
AustralianGambling.com.au also got their hands on what Clegg claims is a 50 person sample of this data. If true, the breach of privacy here is disgusting. Who knows what other data could be getting sold right now, maybe even credit card details to identity theft personnel?
Specific Details Being Sold
The sample Excel sheet had the details of online casino players from the UK. The data was in this order:
1. Name - This included both first and last name 2. Address - Both number and street 3. City 4. Country 5. Email address 6. Telephone number 7. Net loss - The amount the player had won or lost at the casino 8. Deposits - The total of the player's real money deposits
The team here at Australian Gambling still has this data should it need to be produced.
The Damning Email Sales Pitch
The email is shocking. It gives the price for the data and who is involved. Rather than giving a commentary, the email is below:
Hi Nick, thanks for the chat on messenger earlier.
Ok, as I mentioned we have gambling data targeted to Casino, Poker, Sportsbetting and Bingo.
In the latest batch of casino data we have roughly 40k full records available which include Full name, address, email, telephone number, net loss and total deposits of each player.
All the data is European and comes from various online casinos like Casino Tropez, Eurogrand, Casinojoy, 888, Intercasino, Spin Palace, 32 red, Will Hill, Europa, Vegas Red, Platinumplay and Roxy Palace.
If you wanted to buy all the 40k casino data I would charge you $100 per 1,000 records so the total cost would be $4,000. If you just wanted to buy part of the database the cost per 1,000 would differ depending on how many you wanted to take.
Regarding poker data we have 37k full records available which again include Full name, address, email, telephone number, net loss and total deposits of each player.
All the data is European and comes from various online poker sites like Titan Poker, Poker Ocean, Pacific Poker and Full Tilt Poker.
If you wanted the whole 37k we would be looking at around $80 per 1,000 records so the total cost would be roughly $2,950. If you wanted to buy part of the database the cost per 1,000 would depend on total spend.
With regards to sports betting data, in the latest batch we have roughly 25k available which are mainly UK and are just email addresses.
The betting data as come from sites Ladbrokes, Betfair, Totesport, Will Hill and Coral.
If you wanted the whole 25k I can do you them at $50 per 1,000 as they are just email addresses so the total cost would be $1,250 or again if you just wanted part of the data the cost per 1,000 would all depend on how many you wanted.
Finally, as I mentioned we have around 500 records for bingo which are just Uk email addresses and they come from Foxy, Cheeky and Tombola Bingo.
I would be willing to chuck these in for free on any substantial order.
If you wanted to take all of the above Nick the total cost would be $8,200 but I would be willing to knock that down to $7,000 for you so you would save $1,200.
Let me know what you want to do.
Cheers Nick.
Many Regards Ryan
Australian Gambling's Mission
In relation to the damning evidence we have provided, none of the operators are yet to reply. We do our best to promote only the most regulated, safe and secure gambling companies for Australians.
Our priority is the safety of Australian gamblers. If their information is not being kept private, we will be doing our very best to avoid harm to them. Right now, the current batch of data has been sold twice.
What does this shocking report mean to the world of online gambling? For some it will come as no big news. Others, they will be horrified.
We will be following up this significant report by extending our efforts to get a reply form the companies involved. Stay tuned.
Nick Haslem, www.Australiangambling.com.au
