Bet365 Fined £582,120 for Regulatory Failures

Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC, which holds Bet365’s bingo and casino licences, will pay £343,035, while Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, with a licence for betting, will pay £239,085.

The entire sum of £582,120 will be allocated to socially responsible causes as part of a regulatory settlement with the Commission.

These failures were identified during a compliance assessment conducted by the Commission in March 2022.

Social responsibility failures included:

• Customer interactions were often generic and did not account for individual customer journeys or levels of harm, rendering them ineffective.
• The Early Risk Detection System failed to effectively gauge the impact of interactions on a customer’s behavior or the need for further action.
• Bet365's evaluation approach was inadequate in assessing whether customers understood the information provided during interactions.

Anti-money laundering failures included:

• Ineffective enhanced customer due diligence and Know Your Customer triggers to manage money laundering risks.
• Neglecting financial sanctions checks on new customers before their initial deposits.
• Over-reliance on customers' self-verification of identification documents without independent verification checks.
• Insufficient detail in the procedure document regarding customer risk profiling.

Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations, stated, “While these policy and procedural failures may not have been as severe as those seen in other gambling businesses recently, they are nonetheless significant. We demand high standards from operators to maintain gambling safety, fairness, and crime prevention and will always take action to address any shortcomings. This operator is well aware that repeated failures will result in escalated regulatory measures.”