Gambling Commission fines Betway for marketing on West Ham children’s web pages

The Gambling Commission found that Betway’s advertising had appeared on children’s pages on West Ham United’s website.

UK.- The British Gambling Commission (UKGC) has issued a financial penalty against Betway for marketing material that was shown on children’s web pages on West Ham United’s site. Betway’s logo and a link to its website appeared on a page that offered a teddy bear image for children to colour in. 

The regulator said the logo appeared on the page between April 14 2020 and November 6 2021. The logo also appeared on the Young Hammers at Home page between October 24 and November, 15 2021.

The Gambling Commission has issued a £408,915 financial penalty against the operator for breaching its rules that marketing must be conducted in a socially responsible manner. It recognised that Betway had taken remedial action and had cooperated with the regulator’s investigation. 

Director of enforcement Leanne Oxley said: “Protecting children from gambling harm is at the heart of what we do,” said, Gambling Commission Director of Enforcement. Although there is no suggestion that the operator was deliberately targeting children, or that children had been allowed to gamble, we take the breach of any rules aimed at protecting children extremely seriously.

“We note the remedial actions since taken by licensee but advise all operators to learn from this case and ensure that they take responsibility and have the correct processes in place so that websites directed at children do not include advertisements for gambling.”

It’s the latest in a series of fines issued by the Gambling Commission. Last month, it issued a record £17m fine against Entain. It also fined Smarkets for AML breaches and issued LeoVegas with a warning and a £1.2m penalty for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.

In May, Betway lost an appeal against a SEK100,000 (€9,800) fine issued by Sweden’s gambling regulator for a breach of bonus rules. The Administrative Court in Linköping has upheld the regulator’s decision.

Spelinspektionen issued the fine in December after it received a complaint that on June 10 that Betway SE had offered part of its customer base a “200% match bonus offer”. Sweden’s Gaming Act, which came into force in January 2019, allows operators to offer welcome bonuses only. Subsequent bonuses cannot be offered to existing customers.