Betfred retail arm fined £825,000 for AML and safer gambling failures

• UK Gambling Commission fines Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited £825,000 for anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches identified in a 2024 assessment.​
• The operator also receives a warning and must undergo an independent third‑party audit of its controls​
• The penalty follows a £3.25 million settlement in 2023 for earlier regulatory failures, and comes as UK gambling tax changes tighten financial pressure on operators.​

Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited, trading as Betfred, has been ordered to pay £825,000 after the UK Gambling Commission found failings in its anti-money laundering (AML) and safer gambling controls at betting shops during a 2024 compliance assessment.

The operator has also been issued with a formal warning and is required to appoint an independent auditor to test whether its policies, procedures and controls are now being applied effectively.​

Failures in AML controls

The Commission concluded that the business did not adequately identify and manage money laundering risks linked to customers using B3 gaming machines.

Although the operator used machine alerts and daily reports, its processes at the time did not allow it to assess overall customer spend or associated money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

Regulators also found no effective policy for identifying and dealing with customers subject to financial sanctions, despite this being a core AML requirement. Thresholds for enquiring about customers’ source of income were set at £15,000 in losses and £125,000 in stakes in a year, which the Commission judged were not appropriately risk‑based in practice.​

Safer gambling weaknesses

The investigation highlighted weaknesses in how the operator detected and acted on potential harm, particularly for customers using B3 machines.

The Commission reported that customer interaction processes did not reliably trigger when risk indicators were present and that the quality and follow‑up of interactions did not meet regulatory expectations.​

“We fully acknowledge the improvements the operator has already made since these issues were identified, and the independent audit will be key to confirming these changes are sustained so that the operator continues to be fully compliant with social responsibility and anti-money laundering requirements,” said John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement at the Gambling Commission.​

Previous enforcement history

This latest action follows earlier regulatory findings against the same licensee.

In 2023, Done Brothers agreed to pay £3.25 million, including divestment, after a regulatory review exposed failings in safer gambling and AML processes between January 2021 and December 2022. That case cited issues such as insufficient controls for new customers, weak monitoring of high‑velocity spend and poor record‑keeping around customer checks.​

The Commission has repeatedly stated that both online and retail operators must maintain robust, risk‑based frameworks to prevent harm and crime. The new fine and audit requirement signals ongoing scrutiny of shop‑based gambling as well as remote offerings.​

New tax pressures on UK operators

The enforcement comes as UK gambling businesses prepare for higher tax burdens on remote activities, alongside changes that differentiate between online and land‑based play.

From April 2026, the rate of Remote Gaming Duty will rise from 21% to 40%, and from April 2027, a new 25% of General Betting Duty will apply to most remote betting, although remote bets on UK horseracing and bets via self‑service terminals in licensed premises will stay at 15 per cent.​

Industry groups and analysts have warned that higher online duties, combined with ongoing regulatory penalties and compliance costs, are likely to squeeze margins and may influence how operators balance investment between retail estates and digital channels.

For investors and regulators, the combination of tax reform and enforcement activity is expected to drive further consolidation and renewed focus on operational efficiency across the UK market.​