Betfred has been fined £825,000 for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures in the United Kingdom.
The fine from the Gambling Commission follows an investigation into anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls at Betfred’s retail betting outlets.
The investigation found that Betfred was unable to effectively identify and manage money laundering risks associated with customers using its B3 gaming machines.
The Commission found that although Betfred 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.
Betfred also failed to have an effective policy in place to identify and handle any customers who may be subject to financial sanctions.
The thresholds at which the operator made enquiries regarding customers’ source of income were set at £15,000 losses and at £125,000 stakes in 365 days, which the Commission determined were not appropriately risk based.
In terms of its social responsibility obligations, Betfred failed to adequately identify spend and any associated financial indicators of gambling harm for customers using B3 gaming machines and customer interactions did not always take place following an identification of risk indicators.
When they did, interactions were not conducted in a way which minimised the risk of gambling related harm.
“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,” said John Pierce, Commission director of enforcement.
The £825,000 penalty issued to Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited, trading as Betfred, is accompanied by a requirement to undergo a third-party audit to ensure that it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
Pierce added: “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.”
This is the second time Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited has faced regulatory action, having paid a settlement of £3.25 million in 2023 for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.