The Gambling Commission today fined sister companies 32Red and Unibet, who in 2021 pledged to make no money from problem gambling, for performing only “superficial” checks on at-riskcustomers.
The pair, both owned by Swedish company Kindred, received a combined £7.1 million worth of fines, which come as the Government prepares to publish long-delayed plans to reform gambling.
Kindred - one of Europe’s largest betting businesses - pledged in 2021 to make no money whatsoever from “harmful” customers by the end of 2023. Since publishing its progress towards this goal, the amount it made from these customers has not declined significantly.
Kindred CEO Henrik Tjärnström said appreciated that the regulator decided it was still fit to keep its licence.
Matt Zarb-Cousin, director of campaign group Clean Up Gambling, said the fine was too small for a company of the size of Kindred, which is valued at more than £2 billion. He said that fines need to be larger or they will simply be seen as the “cost of doing business”.
“Kindred’s fine today amounts to less than 10% of their net profit last year,” he said.
“Fines need to be much larger to disincentivise bad practice across the online gambling sector, and licenses need to be rescinded for repeat offences.
“We also need to see a robust affordability model in the imminent gambling White Paper that’s independently overseen and doesn’t rely on self-regulation.”
Today, the Gambling Commission revealed that the companies “failed to identify and protect potential problem gamblers”, and when they did, they “were superficial and lacked depth”.
While the review has been delayed, the Commission has fined - or agreed settlements instead of fines for - almost all of the top listed gambling companies in the UK.
Ladbrokes owner Entain paid £17 million to the watchdog last year, the largest ever payment. Sky Bet’s parent company was fined £1.2 million for sending free slot spins to customers who had asked to be blocked from its marketing messaging. 888 paid a fine last year after the Commission said the threshold at which it would perform checks on customers was too high.
William Hill revealed last year that it was under investigation, and could face a record-breaking fine, if not the suspension of its licence. The expected punishment is so large that it caused 888 to slash the price it paid to acquire the bookmaker by £250 million.
Gambling Commission executive director Kay Roberts said all gambling companies should pay attention to the fine.
“These failures highlight clearly that both operators failed to interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of them experiencing harms associated with gambling,” she said.
“Our investigations also showed that policies and procedures were overlooked, both around customer accounts and anti-money laundering practices.”
“Ultimately, it is an example which all gambling operators should take notice of to ensure they protect their customers at all times.”
Tjärnström said Kindred would work harder to improve.
“While we accept the outcome, and the acknowledgment that we have already taken significant steps to strengthen our processes, we also recognise that we need to work even harder to ensure a safe and compliant business,” he said.
He added that the failings were “unlikely to happen today” due to changes it had already made.
The long-delayed review of gambling policy may include “affordability checks” on higher-spending customers.
In a letter to the DCMS committee published on Tuesday, Kindred said these type of checks were “overly bureaucratic, unprecedented and disproportionate”.
