Football Pools Penalised by UKGC – How It Failed to Meet Regulations

Football Pools Limited, which runs several platforms including footballpools.com and is known as one of the top ways to gamble on Saturday fixtures. The Pools were popular long before the internet.

The company will pay the penalty toward socially responsible causes. Although the company has been working to reinvent itself in recent years to attract new customers, outdated compliance practices have now placed it under regulatory scrutiny.

According to John Pierce, the Commission’s Director of Enforcement, the company’s reliance on financial alerts to detect problem gambling was not sufficient. While the alerts helped prevent significant financial losses, they failed to identify other warning signs such as prolonged gambling sessions and high-speed spending.

Pierce commented: “This case demonstrates that the Licensee’s approach to anti-money laundering risk profiling and monitoring was insufficient, allowing high-risk customers to continue gambling before completing necessary enhanced due diligence checks.”

He also added that although the operator has made improvements since the compliance assessment, the Commission will not hesitate to take further action if standards continue to fall short.

Football Pools, a brand that once enjoyed significant popularity through its Saturday kick-off game bets, now faces fresh challenges amid a rapidly evolving gambling landscape. Its recent push to modernise and broaden its audience could be hampered by these regulatory issues unless it fully addresses the compliance shortcomings identified by the UKGC.

As the industry grows more complex, the UKGC’s ongoing enforcement efforts highlight the importance of stringent standards for operators looking to avoid hefty fines and reputational damage.