Scratchcard competitions have cost Lancaster-based Abstract Games a £100,000 fine.
Winners had to make a £9 call to find out what prize they’d won. This automatically entered them into a subscription service that cost £2 or £2.50 a week.
PhonepayPlus, regulator for premiumrate phonelines, got complaints from dozens of people who said they’d been charged for unwanted texts.
Abstract Games, owned by online gambling firm Netplay TV plc, ran the games under the titles Fast Cash, Scratch and Match, Square Your Bill and Quids In.
The chairman of Netplay is Martin Higginson, former boss of Monstermob.