Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the operator behind betfred.com, will pay £900,000 after a Gambling Commission investigation found failings in its safer gambling controls.
The regulator said the settlement followed a compliance assessment and licence review of Petfre’s remote operating licence. The case focused on social responsibility controls, particularly how the operator identified customers at risk of gambling harm and acted once warning signs appeared.
Review Found Delays In Customer Interaction
According to the Gambling Commission, Petfre failed to comply with parts of Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3, which covers remote customer interaction. The public statement said the review identified weaknesses in how the operator embedded the “identify” and “act” stages of customer interaction.
The Commission said Petfre did not have sufficient automated processes in place to identify indicators of harm, including customer spend, time spent gambling and patterns of spend. It also found that the operator did not have processes to ensure immediate and automated action where strong indicators of harm were present.
One issue highlighted by the regulator was a process under which an account flagged for a safer gambling review would not be flagged for another review for seven days. The Commission said this meant some customers showing further indicators of harm were not contacted as quickly as they should have been.
In one example, a customer received an interaction after passing a deposit trigger, but no further action was taken. The customer then deposited and lost a further £17,900 within 24 hours without another intervention.
Settlement Directed To Consolidated Fund
The £900,000 payment is being made in lieu of a financial penalty and will be directed to the Consolidated Fund. Petfre also agreed to the publication of a statement of facts and to pay towards the Commission’s investigation costs.
The regulator said the relevant customer interaction failings covered different periods. It said Petfre failed to comply with several remote customer interaction requirements between 31 October 2023 and 24 June 2024, while the finding related to automated action on strong indicators of harm ran from 31 October 2023 to December 2025.
The Commission listed previous regulatory action against the licensee as an aggravating factor. It also noted mitigating factors, including that Petfre put an action plan in place, provided updates and fully co-operated with the investigation.
Regulator Calls For Wider Industry Learning
John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s Director of Enforcement, said operators must implement effective policies and procedures as part of safer gambling in Britain. He said the Commission found Petfre’s procedures were not sufficiently effective, meaning some customers showing markers of harm were not contacted quickly enough.
Pierce also said Petfre had acted quickly to put interim controls in place and had since delivered an action plan. However, he said the failure to implement an effective monitoring framework had resulted in a significant regulatory settlement.
The Commission used the public statement to ask operators to review whether their safer gambling controls identify all potential indicators of harm, whether policies clearly define strong indicators of harm, and whether automated controls act on those indicators in a timely way.
The case adds to a recent line of UK enforcement activity focused on how licensed operators monitor customer behaviour, use automation, and intervene when gambling harm indicators appear.
