Paddy Power Betfair is to pay £2m [$2.7m] for acting too slowly on concerning customer behaviours, including one player who staked £86,000 [$115,000] over 16 days and another who placed 300 bets in eight hours.
The Gambling Commission found social responsibility failures in a review of the firm last year and said some customer interactions “fell far short”.
John Pierce, the watchdog’s director of enforcement, said the £2m settlement reflected the seriousness of the case. Betting firms must have systems and processes to monitor activity and identify worrying behaviours, but Paddy Power Betfair’s were found to be lacking in some cases.
The commission said “the velocity of spend, increasing deposits, overnight gambling, and changing betting patterns did not appear to be identified by the licensees or acted upon until the next day”.
