Paddy Power Betfair to pay £2m for social responsibility failures

Paddy Power Betfair has agreed to pay £2 million after the gambling watchdog found it failed to step in quickly enough when customers were showing concerning betting behaviours, which saw one gambler stake £86,000 in just over two weeks.

The Gambling Commission said a compliance assessment last year uncovered social responsibility failures at the firm where customer interactions “fell far short” of what is required.

In one case, Paddy Power Betfair – owned by Flutter Entertainment – failed to intervene despite the customer staking £86,000 over 16 days, during which time they lost £6,000 and only completed a manual review when the losses escalated.

In another, the firm did not step in soon enough when one gambler went on intense betting sprees, with one session lasting seven hours and 46 minutes, during which they placed more than 300 bets totalling £20,000.

John Pierce, commission director of enforcement at the Gambling Commission, said: “This £2 million settlement reflects the seriousness of the failings identified and the importance of meeting social responsibility and customer interaction standards.”

He added: “These failings should never have occurred. While the licensees co-operated fully with the investigation, accepted the failings early and implemented an action plan quickly, this immediate response is the minimum we expect from operators when serious shortcomings are identified.”

Betting firms must put in place systems and processes to monitor gambling activity to identify worrying behaviours from the point when an account is opened.

While Paddy Power had several systems in place, the examples of failures uncovered showed “the velocity of spend, increasing deposits, overnight gambling, and changing betting patterns did not appear to be identified by the licensees or acted upon until the next day,” according to the commission.

Mr Pierce said: “Operators must ensure systems to identify and address harm work effectively and at the right time.

“Over-reliance on automation and failure to intervene when clear harm indicators are present exposes consumers to unnecessary risk.”

Four operators trading under the names Paddy Power and Betfair – PPB Entertainment, PPB Counterparty Services, Betfair Casino and TSE Malta – will pay the money as part of the settlement.

It marks the second sanction in just over two years for the firm, with the commission fining Paddy Power and Betfair £490,000 in 2023 for sending promotional push notifications to vulnerable customers, who had signed up to exclude themselves.

A spokesperson for Flutter’s UK and Ireland business said: “Flutter takes its safer gambling responsibilities incredibly seriously and we firmly believe that we lead the industry in player protection.

“Customer safety is our number one priority and there is no suggestion that any of the customers reviewed by the Gambling Commission experienced any harm.

“Our controls have evolved significantly and we recently introduced a next generation customer safety platform, with the vast majority of checks now happening in real-time.

“As such, we are confident that the issues highlighted by the commission in its public statement would not be repeated today.”