NetBet Fined £650,000 for AML and Safety Failures
Operator penalised by UK Gambling Commission for significant anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.
NetBet Enterprises Limited will pay a £650,000 regulatory settlement after a UK Gambling Commission investigation found serious breaches in its anti-money laundering and safer gambling controls. The operator failed to protect vulnerable customers and prevent potential financial crime.
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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced that Netbet Enterprises Limited, which trades as NetBet, will pay a £650,000 regulatory settlement following an investigation that uncovered serious anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failures. The public statement, published on 5 November 2025, details multiple breaches of the operator's licence conditions.
The settlement comes after a UKGC compliance assessment and subsequent licence review found significant weaknesses in the company's controls designed to prevent money laundering and protect vulnerable customers from gambling-related harm.
Widespread Regulatory Breaches
The investigation identified failings across several key areas between September 2022 and July 2024.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Failings: The Commission found that NetBet's AML policies were inadequate and ineffectively implemented. The operator's risk assessment was deemed not appropriate as it omitted key risks such as high-stakes gambling. Policies were overly reliant on simple financial triggers, and there were examples of customers being allowed to spend amounts disproportionate to their known income.
In one instance, a customer working in a higher-risk occupation deposited approximately £2,000 within four days but remained classified as low risk. Despite a payslip showing a net monthly income of around £2,800, the operator failed to act when the customer deposited £1,650 in a single two-hour period.
Social Responsibility and Safer Gambling Failures: NetBet failed to implement effective customer interaction systems to minimise the risk of gambling harm. The UKGC noted that multiple indicators of harm, such as overnight play and rapid deposits, were not identified in a timely manner.
Specific examples highlighted by the Commission include:
- A customer who deposited and staked their entire £1,500 balance on poker within three minutes, starting at 3:32 am. This pattern of late-night play continued without effective intervention beyond automated emails.
- Another customer repeatedly exhausted their monthly deposit limit within minutes. They deposited £15,000 in 40 minutes on one occasion and were able to deposit a total of £31,000 over a two-day period by exploiting a limit set by calendar month rather than a rolling period.
Further breaches included failing to prevent marketing and bonus offers to customers who had displayed strong indicators of harm, and not having adequate procedures to inform customers about decisions made by automated systems.
The operator also failed to include a warning on its website that underage gambling is an offence, an issue that was immediately rectified when identified.
Settlement and Future Actions
As part of the regulatory settlement, NetBet will make a payment of £650,000 in lieu of a financial penalty, which will be directed towards socially responsible causes. The company will also pay the Commission's investigation costs and must undertake an independent audit of its policies and controls.
The UKGC noted several mitigating factors, including that NetBet cooperated fully with the investigation, accepted its failings at an early stage, and swiftly put an action plan in place to remedy the issues.
This enforcement action serves as a reminder to all operators of the importance of robust AML and social responsibility controls. The required independent audit will assess the effectiveness of NetBet's new procedures to ensure they are fit for purpose in protecting customers and preventing the use of their services for financial crime.