BGO fined £300,000 over misleading casino adverts

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has made a big statement of intent in its crusade against misleading advertising in the online casino industry.

The UK regulatory body announced this week that it had issued a fine of £300,000 to BGO Entertainment over a series of marketing campaigns that breached “social responsibility rules”.

It is the first time the Commission has hit a licensed operator with a financial penalty of this kind.

“We want to make sure that gambling is conducted fairly and openly,” UKGC programme director Paul Hope said in a statement.

“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.”

According to a press release published on Tuesday, the Gambling Commission had warned BGO regarding several issues with its marketing strategy as early as July 2015.

A recent follow-up investigation found that the firm and its affiliates were guilty of “misleading advertisements for promotions” and of failing to take “timely and effective action to address the misleading advertisements”.

Mr Hope warned that online casinos and betting agencies that did not learn from BGO’s mistakes would run the risk of incurring similar penalties.

“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,” he added.

The Commission’s decision notice cited nine BGO adverts that breached social responsibility laws and another 14 posted on third-party affiliate websites.

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