ENGLISH bookmaker Betfred has been forced to pay out over $1.5 million in compensation after it was found that one of its customers had placed bets using stolen money.
The English Gambling Commission found that Betfred had failed in its duty of care by allowing convicted thief Matthew Stevens to gamble via its agency.
Under its terms and conditions, Betfred’s anti-theft and money laundering section dictates that the company has an obligation to ‘prevent gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime’.
Stevens pleaded guilty in January to theft after taking 856,700 English pounds from his employer, which was then used to garner VIP status at Betfred.
The Gambling Commission deemed “a significant proportion of the stolen money was spent with Betfred,” which placed Stevens in the top 5 percent of gamblers at the company.
The former accountant was subsequently jailed for over three years.
In damning revelations about Stevens’ activity, it was revealed that Betfred had offered inducements to encourage Stevens to continue gambling, which included free drinks and day trips.
Under the terms of the latest settlement, Betfred will pay over $850,000 to the victims of the criminal activities.
A further $661,000 will be paid to socially responsible causes.
Bookmaker crackdown just the beginning
Betfred’s settlement was the latest in a string of fines issued to English bookmakers after Sarah Harrision took over as the chief executive of the Gambling Commission back in October.
Harrision said she is looking forward to “the challenges of keeping gambling fair and safe and regulating an industry which is changing rapidly with technology. Working with the staff, industry, stakeholders and partners in government,”
Harrison has not taken long to make her presence felt.
Earlier in the year English powerhouse Paddy Power was forced to pay close to $500,000 after it was found they encouraged a problem gambler to continue betting through them, which led to the customer losing five jobs and access to his family and home.
Bookmaker Coral was forced to pay out over 1.6 million dollars back in April after they took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a ‘VIP’ customer who turned to crime to facilitate their addiction.
The biggest penalties under Harrison’s reign were handed to Caesar’s Entertainment back in December.
The UK giants were handed a fine in excess of $1.8 million dollars after the commission found that Caesar’s Entertainment had ‘a number of serious weaknesses’ in their customer screening process.
Harrision believes the penalties imposed are just the tip of the iceberg.
“My message has been that if you do not learn the lessons of recent cases and raise standards, we will intervene further, and this is likely to mean taking much tougher enforcement action.”
The Betfred penalty package ‘reflects these failures’
Program director Richard Watson said the penalties imposed on Betfred should be considered a cautionary tale to other bookmakers who are lackadaisical in enforcing their terms and conditions.
“We identified a number of weaknesses in the anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls used by Betfred. The penalty package of over £800,000 reflects these failures.” Watson said.
“The commission has now concluded a wide range of cases over the last 10 months leading to around £3.75million in penalty packages.
“The outcomes and findings in these cases provide a clear signal to operators of the need to learn the lessons from these for social responsibility and money laundering controls, or risk facing tougher sanctions.”
In addition to the monetary fines handed down by the commission, Betfred has also agreed to undergo a third party review and audit of its anti-money laundering and social responsibilities policy, as well as covering the cost of the investigation.
A Betfred spokesman said the company is committed to ensuring a similar transgression does not take place in the future.
“Betfred notes the findings of the Gambling Commission relating to a historical case of an online customer.
“We have greatly strengthened our policies and will continue to review and update our anti-money laundering and social responsibility procedures.
“The Betfred Group remains fully committed to working with the Gambling Commission and the rest of the industry to strengthen existing controls. Responsible gambling is at the very heart of our business.”
