Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel brand has been issued a CA$350,000 penalty in Ontario for failing to appropriately protect betting integrity.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) imposed the penalty on the operator for failing to appropriately identify and report unusual and suspicious betting and match-fixing activity involving events with known integrity concerns.
Following an in-depth review, the AGCO determined that between October 23rd and November 30th 2024, FanDuel accepted 144 bets from three Ontario player accounts on Czech Table Tennis Star Series matches that displayed multiple indicators associated with match-fixing.
The AGCO’s review concluded that, despite these warning signs, FanDuel failed to meet its obligations to identify the unusual and suspicious activity, respond to those activities and report them.
As a result, betting on the affected events was permitted to continue uninterrupted for several weeks.
The AGCO’s review identified numerous red flags that should have prompted action, including abrupt shifts in wagering behaviour and betting lines on matches involving two specific athletes, a concentration of bets on athletes losing their matches, an implausible and near-perfect win-rate, and clear links and synchronized wagering across the accounts involved in the unusual or suspicious activity.
This activity occurred after previous industry warnings about the risk of integrity concerns with this particular tournament series.
“In an era of heightened scrutiny on sports integrity, iGaming operators must be vigilant and proactive in detecting suspicious betting activity and taking appropriate steps to protect their patrons,” said AGCO CEO and registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr. “We will continue to hold all regulated operators accountable to these standards. Protecting fair play is essential to maintaining public trust.”
FanDuel can appeal the AGCO’s action within 15 days to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), an adjudicative body that is part of Tribunals Ontario and independent of the AGCO.
Shares in Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE:FLUT) were trading 2.30 per cent higher in pre-market trading at $217.36 per share ahead of market opening in New York Friday.