Flutter Entertainment’s Paddy Power Betfair business in the United Kingdom has agreed a £2 million settlement with the Gambling Commission.

The settlement relates to failings at Betfair.com and PaddyPower.com between August 2023 and May 2024 and follows a licence review by the Gambling Commission in April and May 2024.

The review found that the operator’s systems were not sensitive enough to identify indicators of harm, leading to insufficient interaction with customers who were potentially at risk.

The social responsibility failings included allowing one customer to deposit £12,000 during a 15-day period before being identified for review, and another who deposited £25,000 in 25 days before being interacted with.

Another customer lost £12,300 in five weeks before being identified for an interaction and one customer was allowed to gamble for 7 hours and 46 minutes during which they placed over 300 bets amounting to £20,000.

“This £2 million settlement reflects the seriousness of the failings identified and the importance of meeting social responsibility and customer interaction standards,” said Gambling Commission enforcement director John Pierce. 

“Our compliance assessment in 2024 uncovered examples where interactions fell far short of what is required. These failings should never have occurred. While the licensees co-operated fully with the investigation, accepted the failings early, and implemented an action plan quickly, this immediate response is the minimum we expect from operators when serious shortcomings are identified.”

This is the second time Paddy Power Betfair has faced regulatory action in the UK following a £490,000 fine in 2023 for marketing to vulnerable consumers.

“Operators must ensure systems to identify and address harm work effectively and at the right time,” added Pierce. “Over-reliance on automation and failure to intervene when clear harm indicators are present exposes consumers to unnecessary risk. Where we find failings, we will act decisively to protect players.”

Paddy Power Betfair will pay £2 million in lieu of a financial penalty.