Flutter Entertainment has reached a settlement with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) to pay £2m in relation to breaches of social responsibility requirements connected to customer interactions across its Paddy Power and Betfair brands.
Among the social responsibility failings identified were systems that were “not sensitive enough to identify indicators of harm”. As a result, customers were not identified in a timely manner and were able to incur significant losses, make large deposits, place high stakes, or exhibit elevated levels of gambling activity before any operator intervention took place.
In response, a Flutter UKI spokesperson told iGaming Expert that there was “no suggestion” from the regulator that any of the customers reviewed had experienced actual harm, and that the operator considers itself an industry leader in player protection. Flutter also stated that the issues identified during the UKGC investigation will not be repeated.
“Flutter takes its safer gambling responsibilities incredibly seriously and we firmly believe that we lead the industry in player protection,” said a Flutter UKI spokesperson.
“Customer safety is our number one priority and there is no suggestion that any of the customers reviewed by the Gambling Commission experienced any harm. Our controls have evolved significantly and we recently introduced a next generation customer safety platform, with the vast majority of checks now happening in real-time.
“As such, we are confident that the issues highlighted by the Commission in its public statement would not be repeated today. We continue to invest in our technology and our people to raise standards in the regulated industry.”
This marks the second time Paddy Power Betfair has faced sanctions from the UKGC. In 2023, the operator was fined £490,000 for marketing activities targeted at vulnerable customers.
The UKGC stated that four online operators trading under the Paddy Power and Betfair brands – PPB Entertainment Limited, PPB Counterparty Services Limited, Betfair Casino Limited and TSE Malta LP – will pay the settlement amount.
The social responsibility failures included insufficiently sensitive systems for identifying indicators of harm. Specifically:
- one customer deposited £12,000 over 15 days before their behaviour was flagged for review;
- another customer deposited £25,000 over 25 days before any contact was made by the operator;
- a third customer lost £12,300 over five weeks before any interaction took place;
- a fourth customer staked £86,000 over 16 days, losing £6,000, with no manual account review conducted despite the high velocity of spend;
- a fifth customer displayed concerning behaviour through intense spikes in activity without any intervention: over a 17-day period, their longest session lasted seven hours and 46 minutes, during which more than 300 bets totalling £20,000 were placed. Their behaviour was only identified as an indicator of harm after a loss trigger was reached, at which point the account was manually reviewed.
At the same time, the UKGC pointed to mitigating factors. Paddy Power Betfair swiftly implemented a remedial action plan to address the identified failings and provided regular updates, with some improvements made even before the compliance assessment took place. In addition, the operator fully cooperated with the regulator throughout the investigation, acted openly and constructively, provided information within agreed deadlines, and “accepted the failings at an appropriately early stage of the investigation.”
John Pierce, Director of Enforcement at the UKGC, added: “This £2m settlement reflects the seriousness of the failings identified and the importance of meeting social responsibility and customer interaction standards.
“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.
“Operators must ensure systems to identify and address harm work effectively and at the right time. 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.”
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