The operator of the Betfred brand was found to have inadequate social responsibility controls

Britain’s Gambling Commission has agreed a settlement of £900,000 with Petfre Gibraltar, the online betting and gaming arm of Betfred.

The payment in lieu of a financial penalty follows a Gambling Commission review conducted between October 2023 and June 2024.

The review found failings in Petfre Gibraltar’s Social Responsibility (SR) controls, as well as failings in its compliance with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).

The failings included shortcomings in Betfred’s customer interaction systems and processes, which meant that they did not effectively minimise the risk of customers experiencing gambling harm.

The review found that due to the lack of automated processes, and delay in the Betfred’s customer interaction processes, some customers who were displaying indicators of harm were not identified and interacted with promptly enough.

The Commission investigation revealed that Betfred’s processes were designed in such a way that a customer who was flagged for intervention would not trigger another alert for the next seven days, meaning that an at-risk customer could potentially go on to lose a significant amount without any further intervention.

“Diligent implementation of effective policies and procedures are the cornerstones of safer gambling in Britain,” said John Pierce, Gambling Commission director of enforcement. “The Commission found that Petfre didn’t have sufficiently effective procedures in place, meaning some customers displaying markers of harm were not contacted quickly enough.

“While the gaps we identified were unacceptable, the licensee acted swiftly to implement interim mitigating controls to address our immediate concerns. They have since delivered an appropriate action plan and taken significant steps to assure the Commission that their current operating model meets our requirements,” Pierce added.

“The failure to implement an effective monitoring framework to identify and contact consumers at risk of harm at pace has resulted in a significant regulatory settlement. We expect all operators to learn from this case and read the public statement to ensure they do not make the same mistakes.”

The £900,000 payment in lieu of a financial penalty will be directed to the UK government’s consolidated fund.

Petfre Gibraltar was previously fined £2.87 million by Britain’s Gambling Commission in September 2022 for social responsibiltiy failings.

More recently, Petfre agreed a £240,000 penalty with the Gambling Commission in 2025 for breaching online slot regulations in the UK.