Betfred Operator Agrees £900,000 Settlement with UKGC Over Safer Gambling Failings
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Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the operator of betfred.com, has agreed to pay £900,000 after reaching a regulatory settlement with the UK Gambling Commission over failures relating to safer gambling measures.
The settlement follows a Commission investigation, launched after a compliance assessment identified shortcomings in the operator's social responsibility policies and procedures.
The regulator found that Petfre lacked effective automated systems to detect key indicators of gambling-related harm, including customer spending, gambling duration and betting patterns. It also concluded the operator did not have processes in place to trigger immediate automated action when significant markers of harm were identified.
Investigators further found that once a customer's account had been flagged for a safer gambling review, it could not be flagged again for seven days, even if additional signs of harm emerged. The Commission said this delayed further interventions, with one customer losing £17,900 in 24 hours without any additional contact from the operator.
As part of the settlement, Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited will pay £900,000.
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement at the UK Gambling Commission, said: "Diligent implementation of effective policies and procedures are the cornerstones of safer gambling in Britain.
"The Commission found that Petfre didn't have sufficiently effective procedures in place, meaning some customers displaying markers of harm were not contacted quickly enough.
"While the gaps we identified were unacceptable, the licensee acted swiftly to implement interim mitigating controls to address our immediate concerns. They have since delivered an appropriate action plan and taken significant steps to assure the Commission that their current operating model meets our requirements."
Pierce added that the operator's failure to implement an effective monitoring framework capable of identifying and engaging at-risk customers promptly had resulted in a significant regulatory settlement, and urged all licensees to learn from the case to avoid similar failings.
