Online casino BGO fined for misleading customers

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) , which is charged with monitoring and regulating the provision of all types of gambling services within the UK, has warned the industry stakeholders that it will not tolerate advertising that “violates social responsibility rules or deceives consumers.”

Declaring its intention to improve advertising standards in the industry, UKGC imposed a hefty fine £300,000 fine on the gambling online operator BGO Entertainment ($ 387.7 thousand) for misleading advertising on the website of the operator and affiliates. This was reported by the press service of UKGC.

Since May 2015, the Commission has required all licensed gambling operators to include additional data in their advertisements in order to avoid misleading customers.

“We want to make sure that gambling is conducted honestly and openly,” said the head of the UKGC program Paul Hope. “So we made it clear to the industry that misleading advertising is an issue that will not be tolerated. We have the authority to deal with it, including the power to impose a fine on this type of offender. We want operators to draw attention to the fact that the problems identified in the notification of the decision can form the basis for future assessments of compliance and can lead to coercive measures, it could cost the operator its license.”

According to the decision of the UKGC, nine advertisements published on the official website of the company between July 17, 2015, and July 21, 2016, were misleading in their nature and violated the principles governing the gambling industry in the UK.

The regulatory body noted that BGO did not take “timely and effective actions” to clear its advertisements from elements that breached advertising requirements.

The bookmaker Bet365 was fined 2.75 million Australian dollars (about $ 2 million) for misleading and deceptive offer of “free bets” for $ 200, while in fact, the player had to bet at least $ 1.2 thousand.

The Australian branch of the bookmaker company Ladbrokes was fined by the gaming regulator Liquor and Gaming New South Wales of New South Wales (NSW) for violating the rules for placing gambling advertisements. Gambling operators are prohibited to publish ads that call New South Wales residents to gamble or create an account for gambling.