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Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the operator of betfred.com, will pay £900,000 ($1.2 million) to settle an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission into failures in its social responsibility controls.
The investigation followed a compliance assessment that identified shortcomings in the company’s safer gambling policies and procedures, including inadequate automated systems to identify customers at risk of gambling-related harm.
According to the Gambling Commission, the operator did not have sufficient automated processes to monitor indicators such as customer spending, time spent gambling and gambling patterns, nor did it ensure immediate automated interventions when strong indicators of harm were detected.
The regulator also found that customers flagged for a safer gambling review could not be flagged again for seven days, delaying further interventions even if additional signs of harm emerged during that period.
In one instance, a customer lost £17,900 ($23,700) within 24 hours without any additional safer gambling interaction after being flagged for review.
“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,” John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s Director of Enforcement, said.
“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,” he added.
Pierce added that the failure to implement an effective monitoring framework to identify and contact consumers at risk of harm has resulted in a significant regulatory settlement and urged other operators to learn from the case.
In addition to the £900,000 settlement, Petfre paid the costs of the Commission’s investigation.
“Following a review of our online business in 2024, we have agreed a settlement with the Gambling Commission. We fully co-operated with the investigation and swiftly put in an action plan to remedy the identified failings,” Mark Pearson, Betfred’s Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications, said.
“Betfred is committed to ensuring a safe gambling experience for all our customers,” he added.