Betfred have become the latest operator to fall foul of the Gambling Commission, with the industry regulator ordering them to pay a £2.87 million penalty for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Gibraltar-based subsidiary Petfre, which runs betfred.com and oddsking.com, is also set to receive an official warning for the failures which took place between October 2019 and December 2020.
The commission said the operator had no controls in place to prevent large levels of quick spend by new customers, including one example in which a customer was allowed to lose £70,000 over a 10-hour period just a day after opening an account. Safer gambling interaction triggers were also set too high.
Appropriate policies, procedures and controls were not in place to manage and mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks, the regulator added, although they found no evidence of criminal spend.
Gambling Commission director of enforcement and intelligence Leanne Oxley said: “This is a further example of us taking action to investigate and sanction alarming failures.
“We expect this gambling business and all other licensees to review this case and look closely to see if they need to make further improvements to demonstrate active compliance.
“Where standards do not improve, tougher enforcement will follow.”
The commission said Petfre co-operated throughout the investigation and took immediate corrective steps to address failings.
A Betfred spokesperson said: “We will work with the UK Gambling Commission and continually review all our anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies.
“During our assessment, the commission found no evidence of criminal activity. We remain committed to providing a safer gambling environment for our customers.”
Betway, Spreadex, Leovegas and Entain have all been hit with financial punishments by the Gambling Commission since the start of August, with Entain being fined a record £17 million.
The money from fines, such as the one handed out to Betfred, goes to the Treasury, while in cases where a regulatory settlement is agreed with the Gambling Commission operators can make donations to socially responsible causes such as the charity GambleAware.
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