Gambling Commission orders The Pools to pay £375,000 for AML and social failures

GoodFon

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) have agreed to a £375,000 settlement against The Pools - formerly known as The Football Pools - for failing to meet its social responsibility and anti-money laundering duties. 

The financial punishment is the latest setback for the company that was once at the forefront of the UK gambling scene but has been beset by troubles within the past couple of years. 

The failures occurred between September 2022 and August 2023 and include failing to implement and act on necessary checks designed to prevent gambling harm.

The UKGC has said that The Pools enabled high-risk gamblers to keep gambling before due diligence checks were completed. They have also said that the company was too reliant on financial checks. 

The Commission’s director of enforcement, John Pierce, said: “The licensee was over-reliant on financial alerts that whilst preventing significant losses meant it failed to engage in a timely manner with some customers who were potentially experiencing other markers of gambling-related harm such as time spent gambling and high velocity spend.”

The UKGC did acknowledge that the group quickly put together an action plan to rectify the situation, and that they have made improvements since the investigation. 

The Pools also received praise for fully cooperating with the investigation and providing requested details promptly. 

However, these concessions did not prevent the UKGC from levying a fine. The £375,000, which is a charge levied instead of a fine, has to be paid by the company following the probe and will be given to socially responsible causes. Pierce also warned: 

“The Commission will take further action if these standards are not maintained.”

The fine is the latest in a list of problems faced by The Pools. The company launched in 1923 as Littlewoods Football Pools. 

Early tickets were distributed outside Old Trafford but Sir John Moores actively oversaw the growth of the fledgling betting business to become one of the biggest pools businesses in the world. 

At one point, 14 million people were playing The Pools every week, with more than £50m staked each weekend. The company continued to operate throughout the 20th and into the 21st Century. 

However, the emergence of The National Lottery and the proliferation of online betting sites has seen the company struggle in the past few years. 

The company posted losses of £18m and £15m in 2022 and 2023 respectively and, as a result, investment fund HOF effectively took control of the business in 2024. 

HOF injected a further £4m of capital into the company. The betting product underwent a rebrand in February this year, changing its name to The Pools and offering a new digital subscription model. 

Players now choose a monthly expenditure level and also enjoy access to features including free bets and free games as part of their membership. 

This settlement is the latest in a series of similar actions taken by the UKGC. In February, Aspire Global was hit with a £1.4m fine by the Commission. 

Aspire’s fine was considerably larger due to the extent of the failings and because the company had been fined for failings before.

To learn more about responsible gambling, visit our responsible gambling in sports betting page which also offers resources and advice on where to seek help if needed.