Betfred Operator To Pay £900,000 Over Safer Gambling Failures

Petfre, the Gibraltar based company behind betfred.com, will pay £900,000 after UK Gambling Commission investigators found weak safer gambling controls at the online operator.

Good to know

• Petfre runs the Betfred online gambling business.
• One customer lost £17,900 in 24 hours without follow up contact after a review delay.
• The case came after a UKGC compliance assessment between May and June 2024.

Slow Intervention Drove The Case

The main problem was not one lost account. The regulator found that Petfre had systems that could miss fast changes in gambling behaviour.

One rule created a clear gap. After an account had been flagged for review, the system could not flag it again for seven days. That meant a customer could show fresh harm indicators before another intervention took place.

John Pierce, director of enforcement at the Gambling Commission, said:

“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.

“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.

UKGC Points To Repeat Compliance Issues

The UKGC said Petfre failed to meet parts of Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3, which requires remote gambling operators to identify risk, act on it and check whether action works.

Automated monitoring also fell short. The regulator said Petfre did not have strong enough processes to spot heavy spending, long sessions and behaviour linked to gambling harm. Policies also failed to define “strong indicators of harm” clearly enough, and automated responses did not match UKGC rules.

Petfre agreed to pay £900,000 in lieu of a financial penalty. The package also includes a statement of facts and UKGC investigation costs. The money will go to the government Consolidated Fund.

The latest case follows earlier Betfred related enforcement. Done Brothers Cash Betting, the Betfred retail business, received an £825,000 penalty in December 2025 for social responsibility and anti money laundering failures in betting shops. The UKGC also ordered Stakelogic BV to pay £122,835 last week over slot game timing failures.

Regulators treated Petfre cooperation and quick fixes as mitigating factors. Past regulatory history and similar failures across the sector counted against the operator.

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