Betfred to pay £800,000 to social causes after GC probe

WARRINGTON-headquartered Betfred is to pay more than £800,000 to social causes following the failure of its anti-money laundering and social policies.

This follows a probe by the Gambling Commission which took place after a Betfred gambler was jailed for three years and four months after admitting  stealing more than £856,000 from their employer.

Much of the dishonestly acquired cash had been spent on online gambling – the largest chunk at Betfred.com.


GC said that Betfred should have monitored the player’s high-volume activity more closely enough.

 “Betfred failed to keep full records of the evidence and supporting documents it considered as part of its due diligence, contrary to regulation 19 of the Regulations,” GC said in Gambling Insider.

“It stated that its staff had spoken to the customer on a number of occasions and this had contributed to the view that he was a professional gambler.



“No records were retained following these interactions with the customer. Also, there were inadequate records of any customer interaction with the customer. This is also indicative of a lack of adequate due diligence measures.



“After being upgraded to a VIP customer, the customer’s play was not subject to the reactive player monitoring which applied to other customers.

“Additionally, Betfred’s written policies and procedures made no provisions for how VIP customers, who may be problem gamblers, are identified or managed and the customer was often awarded bonuses of over £1,000 when his balance reached zero.”



Betfred will pay £443,000 to the victims of the crime and a £344,500 penalty to socially responsible causes, as well as the GC’s investigation costs of just over £30,000. 



An independent third-party review must be carried out by Betfred, which will look into its anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies.



A Betfred spokesman said: “Betfred notes the findings of the Gambling Commission relating to a historical case of an online customer.

“We have greatly strengthened our policies and will continue to review and update our anti-money laundering and social responsibility procedures.

“The Betfred Group remains fully committed to working with the Gambling Commission and the rest of the industry to strengthen existing controls. Responsible gambling is at the very heart of our business.”