Gambling Commission crack down – bonus promotions must be fair and transparent!

The Gambling Commission has published details on their findings into an investigation revealing failures at TGP Europe Ltd and Fesuge Ltd relating to clarity of terms and conditions on a Cheltenham Festival bonus promotions offer in March 2016.

The operator, based in the Isle of Man, promoted the bonus offers on four of their remote gambling brands resulting in some 5,000 accounts being suspended by TGP and Fesuge on the basis that one of their t’s and c’s had been contravened. Regulators received a large number of public complaints with over 1,000 cases referred to the IBAS website by around 800 separate customers on the grounds that the terms were not clear and therefore unfair.

TGB and Fesuge, who cooperated fully with the investigation, accepted that their terms were unclear and ambiguous and did not provide a clear definition of bonus abuse agreed upon a voluntary settlement with the Gambling Commission. It is made clear that TGP had no financial benefit as a result of the breach and that the resulting business review has cost them a substantial amount of money.

The regulator, who is supporting a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into whether gambling operators are treating customers fairly advised all operators to take note, warning that the issues identified are likely to form the basis for future compliance assessments of gambling operators.

The full report can be viewed here.

Further reading:
Gambling – An industry that preys on society’s vulnerable or a responsible leisure provider?