The UK regulator fined Betfred £825,000 after finding social responsibility and AML failures. Third-party auditing becomes mandatory alongside the warning Betfred received. Regulatory control effectiveness requires future verification through independent assessment. Betfred’s B3 gaming machines created the compliance issues identified. The operator earns substantial revenue from machines across 1,300 UK betting shops.

Money Laundering Prevention Failures

The Commission found ineffective money-laundering risk identification for machine operations. Financial sanctions and customer screening lacked effective policy implementation at Betfred. 2024 practices prevented accurate total customer spend assessment capabilities. Wealth source enquiry thresholds sat at £15,000 for losses and £125,000 for 365-day stakes. Regulators deemed these thresholds inappropriate for proper risk management.

Player Protection Failures

UKGC standards require customer interactions following risk indicator detection. Betfred’s interactions sometimes concluded without adequate harm minimisation measures. Understanding interaction effectiveness and quality proved insufficient for Commission standards. December 3 saw the publication of the Gambling Commission’s enforcement decision. Enforcement Director John Pierce explained the violation context clearly. Technical breaches emerged during the standard 2024 Compliance Assessment procedures. The breaches remained unacceptable regardless of their technical classification, according to Pierce. Practical assessment revealed excessively high thresholds lacking risk-based justification. Licensee procedures and processes contained multiple deficiencies.

Repeat Offense

Throughout the investigation, Betfred maintained full regulatory cooperation consistently. Operator improvements since issue discovery received acknowledgement from Pierce directly. Sustained compliance requires independent audit confirmation of implemented changes. Both AML and social responsibility standards need continuous maintenance. Previous regulatory action hit Betfred for identical failure categories in 2023. That year’s settlement cost the operator £3.25 million in penalties.