No means no. That’s what we’re taught from an early age, but apparently executives of UK’s Sky Bet missed the class. It now faces a fine of £1 million ($1.2 million) for not doing a better job at excluding certain gamblers from being bombarded with gambling promotions. The fine will be paid through donations to socially responsible charities.

An estimated 50,000 customers had decided to step away from gambling, and had asked to be removed from marketing material, according to the UK Gambling Commission. Nonetheless, they still received advertisements by text messages, cell phone push notifications or emails.

Additionally, 736 individuals who had “self-excluded” were able to re-open accounts or create duplicate accounts, the gambling watchdog said. Almost 37,000 that stepped away didn’t have their balances refunded when they closed their accounts, as required by law. Many are still waiting for their funds to be returned, and Sky Bet said it is working diligently to identify those individuals. It added that all funds will be returned wherever practical.

With the increased scrutiny of gambling activity in the UK, any misstep can bring a fine. Richard Watson, program director for the UK Gambling Commission, said, “This was a serious failure affecting thousands of potentially vulnerable customers and the £1 million [USD$1.2 million] penalty package should serve as a warning to all gambling businesses.”