Betfred owner fined £240,000 for losses disguised as wins online slot breach

The regulator said several Petfre games failed to meet Remote Technical Standards.

Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, the company that owns and operates the Betfred brand, has been fined £240,000 ($323,110) by the UK Gambling Commission for breaching standards on some of its online slot games.

The Gambling Commission said Petfre operated several games that failed to meet the requirements of the Remote Technical Standards (RTS). These included hosting some games that failed to display a player’s net position and other games which celebrated losses disguised as wins.

In its assessment, the commission referenced the fact that the RTS must clearly display a customer’s net position. The standards also state that games must not celebrate a return that is less than or equal to the total stake.

The regulator took issue with celebratory effects occuring when a consumer was in an overall losing position. It said this could negatively impact a player’s ability to interpret their gameplay accurately and make informed choices.

Petfre, which along with Betfred also runs the Oddsking.com brand, took immediate action and promptly decommissioned affected games. However, such was the nature of the breach that the Gambling Commission elected to proceed with a fine.

In February 2021, the commission clamped down on various online slots features, including a ban on features which celebrated losses as wins. At the time, previous Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur said evidence had shown this feature “increased the risk of harm to customers”, alongside others like auto-play and slot spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds.

Slot games posed ‘unnecessary risk’

Commenting on the case, John Pierce, director of enforcement at the Gambling Commission, expressed his disappointment at the breach. He said game features that impair a consumer’s ability to make informed decisions are not appropriate and “posed a clear risk”.

“While we acknowledge the operator acted swiftly to remove the affected games, this enforcement action should serve as a clear signal to the wider industry to review and strengthen their compliance practices — and to ensure that gameplay is fair and consumers are not exposed to unnecessary risk,” he said.

Incidentally, this is the second time that Petre has been issued a financial penalty by the UK regulator. In September 2022, the operator was fined £2.9 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

It also represents the latest in a series of penalties handed out by the commission. In September, Maple International Ventures, the operator of Lottomart.com, was told to pay £360,000, also for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.

In addition, ProgressPlay was handed a £1 million fine in August for similar breaches. Based in Cyprus, ProgressPlay owns 134 gambling sites including Acedbet.com, Casinomite.com and Playmagical.com.