Betfred hit with £825,000 fine over AML and social responsibility failings at betting shops
The Done brothers’ betting brand must also undergo a third-party audit.
UK.- The British Gambling Commission has handed Betfred operator Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited, a £825,000 fine following an investigation into its procedures and controls at betting shops. The regulator found that the gambling operator had committed a number of social responsibility and anti-money laundering breaches.
Betfred, which has over 1,200 betting shops in the UK, must also undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
Anti-money laundering failings cited by the Gambling Commission included an inability to effectively identify and manage money laundering risks associated with customers using B3 gaming machines. Whilst the licensee utilised machine alerts and daily reports, practices in place at the time of the assessment in 2024 meant the operator was unable to assess overall customer spend and the associated money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
In addition, the licensee did not have an effective policy in place to identify and handle any customers who may be subject to financial sanctions, and the thresholds at which the operator made enquiries regarding customers’ source of income were not appropriately risk based, with thresholds set at £15,000 losses and at £125,000 stakes in 365 days.
As for social responsibility failings, these included not being able to adequately identify spend and any associated financial indicators of gambling harm for customers using B3 gaming machines.
Customer interactions did not always take place following an identification of risk indicators, or when they did, interactions were not conducted in a way which minimised the risk of gambling related harm. Moreover, the quality of interactions, in particular understanding the impact of the interaction, did not meet the standards required.
It’s not the first time that Betfred has faced a severe fine from the Gambling Commission. In 2023, Done Brothers paid £3.25m, also due social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. And in October of this year, the regulator issued a £240,000 fine to Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, which runs betfred.com and oddsking.com, for offering slot games that failed to meet the requirements of the Remote Technical Standards (RTS)
John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s director of enforcement said: “While the failings identified during the 2024 Compliance Assessment were predominantly technical breaches rather than arising from specific customer examples, they were nevertheless unacceptable, particularly with thresholds appearing too high and insufficiently risk based when assessed in practice, and deficiencies in some processes and procedures adopted by the Licensee.
“We fully acknowledge the improvements the operator has already made since these issues were identified, and the independent audit will be key to confirming these changes are sustained so that the operator continues to be fully compliant with social responsibility and anti-money laundering requirements.”
In October, Betfred CEO Joanne Whittaker suggested that the company was “going to lose the whole retail business” if a UK gambling tax rise were announced. While a tax rise has now been confirmed, land-based gambling has largely been spared from the increases.
High street betting shops will see no change to the tax rate on either bets or machines. All horse racing bets will be exempt from the increases, and the 10 per cent tax on bingo will be scrapped
See also: How will the UK gambling tax rises affect operators?
