UKGC Fines Betfred £3.25m Due to Social Responsibility Failures

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has recently taken enforcement action against Betfred, a prominent operator in the gambling industry. This action comes after an investigation revealed significant social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. As a result, Betfred is now required to pay a hefty sum of £3.25m.

Betfred’s Operations and Breaches

Betfred, officially registered as Done Bros (Cash Betting) Limited, operates across multiple channels, operating 1,750 high street betting shops, a website, and an app. However, the company breached licence conditions between January 2021 and December 2022.

Key Social Responsibility Failures

The UKGC’s investigation brought to light three major social responsibility failures. These include insufficient customer protection controls, inadequate monitoring of high-velocity spend, and duration of play. These failures put some customers at risk of substantial losses without safer gambling interaction.

Interestingly, Betfred is also accused of assuming that winning customers were not at risk. A striking example of this is a bettor who staked £517,499 without any interaction. This assumption and lack of interaction with high-stake customers highlight a significant area of concern in Betfred’s operations.

Kay Roberts, UKGC Executive Director of Operations, emphasized the importance of effective safeguards to prevent harm or crime in the gambling industry. She stated that while gambling is a legitimate leisure activity enjoyed safely by millions, it is crucial that every operator, online or offline, has effective safeguards in place.

Betfred’s Social Responsibility Shortcomings

On the social responsibility front, the UKGC concluded that Betfred lacked evidence of evaluating individual customer interactions. Additionally, a lack of record-keeping hindered the effectiveness of future customer interactions.

Poor record keeping was also highlighted as an anti-money laundering (AML) failure. Financial thresholds were set too high and Know Your Customer (KYC) and Source of Funds (SoF) checks were deemed inconsistent. The UKGC investigation concluded Betfred was overly reliant on open-source information and had not corroborated customer SoF details.

Betfred’s £3.25m payment, directed towards social responsibility causes, comes just a week after Star Sports’ holding company Star Racing Limited was hit with a £594,000 penalty, also for social responsibility and AML failures. This case, along with others, underscores the UKGC’s commitment to raising standards across the gambling industry.

Betfred Among Other High-Profile Cases

Betfred joins the likes of Entain and William Hill, both of which faced regulatory penalties from the UKGC. These penalties broke records at the time, at £17m and £19.2m respectively, highlighting the UKGC’s stringent regulatory enforcement.