Canadian Law Firm Readies Action Against Sportingbet

The legal spat between GVC Holdings subsidiary Sportingbet and Canadian marketing firm 37 Entertainment has been in the news for some time. But based on the information gleaned from that dispute, a Canadian law company is threatening to assemble a class action suit. This will be potentially more threatening for GVC Holdings if the law firm succeeds.

This latest development was first reported in the UK newspaper The Telegraph last week. The Canadian law firm in question is Findlay McCarthy. The allegation is that during the pursuit of a deal with 37 Entertainment, Sportingbet released private information of as many as 20,000 of its clients to the marketing firm. If Findlay McCarthy can prove this then it would amount to violation of privacy of Sportingbet punters and would provide grounds for a class action suit.

GVC Holdings CEO Kenny Alexander has been dismissing the claims made by 37 Entertainment, but a Findlay McCarthy class action suit would represent a new and perhaps more dangerous dimension to the dispute. The law firm has released a statement to the press, which says that it has been retained by a client willing to act as lead plaintiff in a foreseen class proceeding and that it is estimated by the firm that the total number of potential class members in this action could exceed 20,000. Findlay McCarthy further confirmed that those Sportingbet punters who have come forward have averred that GVC Holdings did not inform them it would be allowing 37 Entertainment and its partner, Barry Alter, daily access to, and control over, confidential customer data dating back to 2005. The statement added, “Such unfettered access was granted without the appropriate privacy measures being put into place.”

The response of GVC Holdings to the Findlay McCarthy development has been what is was to the 37 Entertainment claim. A release from the company stated, “These allegations are spurious and unfounded. GVC has no doubt in its ability defend itself if they choose to pursue them."

37 Entertainment is owned by former Canadian ice hockey star Doug Honegger. It is a Montreal based sports and entertainment consultancy. Its claim is that there was an understanding reached with GVC Holdings for the launch of two Sportingbet-branded web sites for Canadian punters and has included in the plaint masses of correspondence between the two parties. Alexander has been repeatedly denying that there was any formal agreement and there were just explorations that did not materialise.

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