Two of the UK's most prominent online gambling brands, Paddy Power and Betfair, have been hit with a substantial £2 million settlement by the industry regulator for serious lapses in customer protection.
Systemic Failures in Player Protection
The Gambling Commission revealed that a routine compliance assessment in 2024 uncovered significant shortcomings in the social responsibility measures operated by the two brands, both owned by gambling giant Flutter Entertainment. The regulator stated the companies fell "far short" of expected standards.
Central to the failings were inadequate systems designed to detect early signs of gambling-related harm. These systems, which should trigger welfare checks, were found to be insufficiently sensitive, leading to critically late interventions with at-risk customers.
Shocking Cases of Unchecked Gambling
The investigation highlighted several alarming instances where protective measures failed completely. In one case, a customer was allowed to stake £86,000 over a 16-day period, losing £6,000, without any manual review of their account despite the high spending velocity.
Another gambler exhibited intense, concerning activity over 17 days without any operator interaction. Their most extreme session lasted for seven hours and 46 minutes, during which they placed 300 bets totalling £20,000—a rate exceeding £2,500 per hour. An automated review was only triggered after the customer hit a loss threshold, not based on the pattern of their behaviour.
A Recurring Problem for Flutter
The £2 million settlement represents a significant penalty, yet it equates to slightly less than two hours of revenue for Flutter Entertainment, which reported £10.5 billion in revenue last year. This marks the company's second regulatory sanction in three years; it paid £490,000 in 2023 for sending promotional push notifications to self-excluded customers.
John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s Director of Enforcement, emphasised the seriousness of the failings. "These failings should never have occurred," he stated, noting that while the licensees cooperated and acted quickly, such a response is "the minimum we expect."
Company Response and Future Safeguards
A Flutter spokesperson asserted that customer safety is the company's "number one priority" and claimed there was no suggestion the customers involved experienced harm. They defended the company's record, stating it leads the industry in player protection.
The spokesperson added that controls have "evolved significantly" since the assessment, with the recent introduction of a next-generation safety platform enabling real-time checks for the vast majority of customers. "We are confident that the issues highlighted... would not be repeated today," they concluded.
