GVC hit with Gambling Commission fine for marketing failings
The operator’s ElectraWorks Limited subsidiary to pay a financial penalty for promotions which failed to comply with the CAP code
The UK Gambling Commission has fined GVC Holdings £350,000 for “repeatedly misleading consumers” with adverts relating to free bonuses, it was announced today.
The fine was levied on GVC’s bwin operating subsidiary, ElectraWorks, which also received a formal warning from the Commission for failing to ensure the person responsible for marketing at the business holds a personal management licence.
The issue originated in August 2016 when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint against ElectraWorks over an advert offering a free bonus on its www.bwin.com website.
Essentially the bonus required complex wagering requirements to unlock, which the ASA deemed were not clearly outlined. The watchdog said the ad must not appear again, but the Gambling Commission later saw an advert onsite that breached the same code.
In April 2017 the Commission discovered six similar breaches on ElectraWorks’ casinoking.com,casinolasvegas.com, noblecasino.com, partycasino.com, partypoker.com and scasino.com websites. In June 2017 the same breaches were subsequently found again on these sites. And in August 2017 a similar breach occurred on ElectraWorks’ casinolasvegas.com website.
Richard Watson, Gambling Commission programme director, said: “This fine should serve a warning to all gambling businesses that we will not hesitate to take action against those who mislead consumers with bonus offers or fail to ensure they are correctly licensed.”
Bonus terms and conditions are currently the target of a joint CMA and Gambling Commission investigation, with firms recently warned to take action or risk regulatory action.
A GVC spokesperson told EGR Intel in a statement:
“GVC strives to adhere to the highest standards in the operation and promotion of the online gaming experience we offer our customers. When we fall short of those standards we believe the right thing to do, is to acknowledge the fact, correct the problem and then ensure that we have taken every necessary precaution to ensure there is no repetition.
“We accept the Gambling Commission’s findings that a small number of former promotions were not compliant with the CAP code. Those promotions were withdrawn and the group put in place measures to ensure that our subsequent promotional activity was, and is, fully compliant with the CAP code.
“We also accept we were late in filing a personal management licence (PML) for a specified individual and are pleased to say that the situation has been fully rectified.
“We welcome the Gambling Commission’s recognition that GVC was “transparent and open” throughout the investigative process as well as their conclusion that we “recognised failings and took steps to ensure the issues were addressed and did not occur in the future.”