Petfre Gibraltar to Pay £900,000 After Gambling Commission Review

LONDON: Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the operator of betfred.com, will pay £900,000 after a UK Gambling Commission investigation.

The settlement puts safer gambling controls back under scrutiny, with the regulator saying some customers showing signs of harm were not identified or contacted quickly enough.

The Gambling Commission announcement said the case followed a compliance assessment that found social responsibility failures in Petfre’s policies and procedures. The operator will make the payment as part of a regulatory settlement with the Commission.

UKGC Identifies Customer Interaction Failures

The failures included insufficient processes to identify harm indicators such as spending levels, time spent gambling and spending patterns through automated systems. The Commission also found that Petfre did not have processes to ensure immediate automated action where strong indicators of harm were identified.

One key issue was a process that meant when a customer’s account was flagged for a safer gambling review, it would not be flagged again for a further review for seven days. The Commission said this resulted in some customers showing further harm indicators not being interacted with as promptly as they should have been.

In one case cited by the regulator, a customer received an interaction after surpassing a deposit trigger, and no further action was taken. The customer then deposited and lost a further £17,900 within 24 hours without further intervention.

Settlement Follows Social Responsibility Review

The Commission said Petfre failed to comply with parts of Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3, which covers remote customer interaction. Those requirements are designed to make operators identify, act on and evaluate gambling harm risks as part of an ongoing customer interaction process.

The findings covered failures between October 31, 2023 and June 24, 2024, for several customer interaction requirements. The Commission also said Petfre failed, between October 31, 2023 and December 2025, to clearly define strong indicators of harm in its safer gambling policy and to put automated processes in place for customers showing those indicators.

The £900,000 payment will be made in lieu of a financial penalty and directed to the Consolidated Fund. Petfre also agreed to the publication of a statement of facts and to pay toward the Commission’s investigation costs.

The regulator listed aggravating and mitigating factors in the settlement. It said the operator had previously been subject to regulatory action and that similar issues had been raised in earlier public statements involving other operators. It also said Petfre cooperated fully and quickly put an action plan in place to address the failures.

Commission Warns Other Operators

John Pierce, the Commission’s director of enforcement, said effective policies and procedures are central to safer gambling in Britain. “Diligent implementation of effective policies and procedures are the cornerstones of safer gambling in Britain”, he said.

Pierce said Petfre’s procedures had not been sufficiently effective. “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”, he said.

He added that the licensee had acted quickly after the regulator raised concerns. “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”, Pierce said.

The Commission said operators should review the findings and check whether their own safer gambling controls identify both financial and behavioral risk indicators. The case gives licensed firms another warning that systems must act on strong signs of harm without delay.

RELATED TOPICS: Regulation