Social Responsibility Failings
Done Bros Limited, the company behind the popular sports betting operator Betfred, has been fined £3.25m by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). The fine is for regulatory failure, including social responsibility and money laundering failings.
The UKGC’s investigation into Betfred revealed several social responsibility failings from the company. There had been several occasions where the company had failed to check in on customers that may be at risk of gambling harm.
It was reported that the operator had made assumptions about the financial situations of its players because they kept winning. The investigation also found that there were not enough controls in place to protect newly registered players. They were also failing to monitor the periods of play for some players, leading to them having a higher possibility of losing money.
Betfred had also failed to interact with a customer that had staked £517,499 over two months. It was also noted that the company had not been keeping a record of interactions it had held with customers, something which would lessen the impact of their potential intervention.
Anti-Money Laundering Failings
The lack of records appears to have been a common theme throughout the UKGC’s investigation. The company was also fined for several money-laundering failings, one of which was related to poor record-keeping.
It was also found that the company failed to consistently obtain identification and Know your Customer (KYC) documents. Customers must also provide Source of Funds (SoF) proof when they hit a certain limit. The report found that Betfred was not performing these checks thoroughly enough. All of the failings that were noted in the report took place over a 23 months period between January 2021 and December 2022.
Raising Standards Across the Industry
Betfred is one of several major operators to have been fined this year by the UKGC. The most notable fine came in March when William Hill was hit with a record £19.2m in fines for widespread regulatory failures.
The gambling industry in the UK has been put under an intense spotlight in 2023, with the long-awaited publication of the White Paper in May promising a lot of regulatory upheaval across the industry.
Regarding Betfred’s fine, Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at the Gambling Commission, said that it was vital every single operator was adhering to the correct standards and putting effective safeguards in place for customers. She said that Betfred’s case was an example of why the industry needs to work together to uphold high standards across the British gambling industry.
