The Gambling Commission received £4.2m from 24 operators in fines and regulatory settlements, according to its 2024-25 annual report and accounts.
The report accounted for the time period between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, with the GC noting the total take was down against 2023-24, when £7.2m was collected in regulatory settlements.
The regulatory body said that given penalty action against operators was down from the year prior, it was a potential sign that the work the Commission is doing is having an effect.
“With the penalties down on the year before, these are potentially positive indicators coming from the work that the Commission has been doing to raise standards of compliance with our rules and on the part of operators as well,” the GC said.
Settlements in the reporting period include a £1.4m settlement with AG Communications over AML and social responsibility breaches and Corbett Bookmakers paying a £686,070 penalty.
The Pools also made payment in lieu of a financial penalty of £375,000 following breaches.
The report stated: “Our operations directorate made significant progress in the last year, with over 9,700 compliance activities undertaken, compared to over 4,200 in the previous year, which was almost 3,000 higher than any previous year.
“We took enforcement action against 24 operators in total leading to £4.2m in fines or regulatory settlements.”
The Commission also noted there was an increase in cease-and-desist letters sent to black-market operators as part of its attempts to combat the unlicensed arena.
The report added: “In addition to the changes we are making to our core operational model, this year we also took steps to increase our efforts in tackling and disrupting illegal gambling activity.
“We issued 516 cease and desist requests to illegal operators (an increase from 384 during 2023-24), and a further 352 to advertisers and/or affiliates of unlicensed operators.
“Additionally, our engagement and close collaboration with search engines and third-party technology companies has been crucial for our disruption efforts; 95,705 illegal gambling URLs were removed following our referral to search engines.”
Following the reporting period, between April and June 2025, the GC blocked 108 websites run by illegal operators.
The GC added it had taken “important strides in tackling illegal gambling, significant progress in our collection and use of data, and improving our operational and financial performance”.
Commenting on its sports betting integrity unit, the Commission said there were several high-profile cases during the reporting period.
It also noted the 15 individuals were charged with cheating offences under the Gambling Act 2005 in relation to bets placed on the timing of the 2024 UK General Election.
“We also had a role to play in a multitude of investigations across the sporting world, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ integrity support that we provided to several major sporting events in 2024-25,” the report said.
The post Gambling Commission hails improved levels of compliance as it reports a fall in penalties first appeared on EGR Intel.
Regulator says 24 firms were fined £4.2m between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, down from £7.2m, as it also details black-market disruption efforts
The post Gambling Commission hails improved levels of compliance as it reports a fall in penalties first appeared on EGR Intel.