We don’t have Gala’s view on this, but it looks like it was an event run and sponsored by Gala. Some people were sponsored for the event by other companies. In the official photos of the winners, their shirts were photoshopped to have Gala Casinos on them.
So the photos were on the Gala site, of people who had given Gala permission to use their images at a Gala event.
Sure, it’s bordering on shady, but they have spent money staging and hosting the event and are entitled to get as much out of it as possible.