Two of the UK's most prominent online betting brands have been hit with a multi-million pound penalty for serious lapses in their duty of care towards customers. Paddy Power and Betfair, both owned by gambling giant Flutter Entertainment, have agreed to pay a £2m settlement following an investigation by the industry regulator.
Systemic Failures in Customer Protection
The Gambling Commission revealed that a routine compliance assessment in 2024 uncovered significant shortcomings in the operators' social responsibility and customer interaction processes. Automated systems designed to flag early signs of problem gambling were found to be insufficiently sensitive, leading to critically late interventions.
In one stark example, a customer was allowed to stake £86,000 over a 16-day period, losing £6,000, without their account being manually reviewed by staff. The regulator noted that the high velocity of spending failed to trigger the necessary welfare checks.
Alarming Cases of Unchecked Gambling Sessions
The investigation detailed particularly concerning individual cases where gamblers exhibited intense, harmful behaviour without any operator interaction. One bettor showed "concerning behaviour in terms of intense spikes of activity" over 17 days.
Most alarmingly, this included a single gambling session lasting seven hours and 46 minutes. During this marathon stint, the individual placed 300 bets totalling £20,000 – an average of more than £2,500 per hour. The account was only reviewed after the customer hit a loss threshold that triggered an automatic alert, a point the regulator deemed far too late.
A Recurring Problem for Flutter Entertainment
The £2m settlement represents the second penalty for the company in three years. In 2023, Flutter paid £490,000 after it mistakenly sent promotional push notifications to customers who had self-excluded from gambling, inviting them to bet on a football match.
John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s director of enforcement, stated the latest fine reflected "the seriousness of the failings". He added that while the licensees cooperated and implemented an action plan quickly, "this immediate response is the minimum we expect from operators when serious shortcomings are identified."
For Flutter, which is listed in London and New York and reported £10.5bn in revenue last year, the £2m settlement is equivalent to slightly less than two hours of the company's takings.
Company Response and Future Safeguards
A Flutter spokesperson said the company takes its safer gambling responsibilities "incredibly seriously" and leads the industry in player protection. They claimed there was "no suggestion that any of the customers reviewed experienced any harm".
The statement highlighted recent investments in a "next generation customer safety platform", with the majority of checks now happening in real-time. "We are confident that the issues highlighted by the Commission would not be repeated today," the spokesperson concluded.
