The UKGC (United Kingdom Gambling Commission) has reached an agreement with bet365 over a penalty of £582,120.
The fine was given because the operator had deficiencies with regards to the anti-money laundering and social responsibility requirements of its bingo and casino business.
bet365 will invest more in customer service policies
Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at UKGC, emphasized that the failures are not as serious as other gaming companies in recent years. However, she said the branches do not meet the high standards the regulator expects from operators.
She stated: “We expect high standards from operators in terms of keeping the game safe, fair and crime-free. We will then always take steps to correct any errors. bet365 is very aware that a repeat of these failures will result in an escalation of regulatory action.”
The company failed in interactions with consumers, who often did not adapt to the specific customer journey. Therefore, the interactions were considered “not significant”.
However, they considered bet365’s early risk detection system “not proven to be effective”. This means evaluating how individual interactions impact customer behavior and whether additional measures were necessary.
In addition, the investigation was also concerned with the company’s approach to customer service evaluations. bet365 was unable to determine whether a customer had read and understood the information or advice provided in their interactions.
The operator provided public responses accepting the assessment, in which it stated it will direct £582,120 to socially responsible causes as part of the regulatory settlement.
bet365 did not carry out financial sanctions checks on new customers before their first deposits and relied excessively on annual self-checking of KYC (Know Your Client) information, such as identification documents.
