Betway to Pay Fine for Failings Related to “VIP” Customers

Online gambling operator Betway has agreed to pay a penalty of £11.6 million for a series of social responsibility and money laundering violations connected to the accounts of seven of its “VIP” customers.

In one case, Betway failed to do the source checking of funds from a “VIP” customer who deposited more than £8m and lost over £4m during a four-year period. In another instance, Betway did not conduct effective social responsibility interactions with a customer who deposited and lost £187,000 in two days. The majority of this money will now be divested and returned to victims.

“The actions of Betway suggest there was little regard for the welfare of its VIP customers or the impact on those around them,” Richard Watson, Executive Director at the Gambling Commission, said.

“As part of our ongoing programme of work to make gambling safer we are pushing the industry to make rapid progress on the areas that we consider will have the most significant impact to protect consumers. The treatment and handling of high value customers is a significant piece of that work and operators are in no doubt about the need to tackle the issue at speed. We have set tight deadlines for when we expect to see progress and if we do not see the right results then we will have no choice but to take further action. This case highlights again why progress needs to be made,” he added.