Betting firms have been reaching secret deals with Britain’s gambling watchdog, including surrendering revenues for failings that are kept out of the public domain, the Observer can reveal.
The Gambling Commission has been placing some betting firms into special measures, enabling them to avoid formal action, which can include fines or the revoking of a license. If a company agrees to implement an action plan and “divest any profit” from regulatory failures, the regulator typically does not make its failings public.
Campaigners say the regime has been a “protective bubble” for firms that may put gamblers at risk of harm.
