UKGC issues £300K advertising fine to BGO

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has fined BGO Entertainment £300,000 (€354,200/$286,700) for misleading advertisements on its website and via three affiliate platforms.

The decision marks the first advertising-related financial penalty that has been issued by the regulatory body.

The UKGC said it first raised concerns with BGO about advertising in July 2015, having established that the company and its affiliates published “misleading advertisements” for promotions.

The regulator also said that BGO did not take “timely and effective action” to address the misleading advertisements and provided “inaccurate assurances” that such issues had been addressed

Paul Hope, programme director at the UKGC, said: “We want to make sure that gambling is conducted fairly and openly.

“So, we have made it clear to the industry that misleading advertising is a serious issue; we have powers to tackle it, including the power to impose financial penalties such as this.

“We want operators to take note that the issues identified in the decision notice are likely to form the basis for future compliance assessments and could lead to enforcement action.”

The UKGC has now used the case to issue a warning to the rest of the industry to ensure advertising is not breaching responsibility rules or deceiving consumers.

Since May 2015 the regulator’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) has required licensed operators to include any significant limitations relating to promotions in advertisements in order to avoid misleading consumers.

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