UK bookmakers Betfred have been fined £800k for not asking enough questions regarding a VIP gambler’s source of wealth.

On Tuesday, the UK Gambling Commission announced that it had reached a settlement under which Betfred will pay over £800k in compensation and contributions towards socially responsible causes to atone for the bookie’s failures in observing proper anti-money laundering procedures.

The brouhaha stems from an individual who stole nearly £857k from their employer, then blew a “significant” portion of the stolen funds gambling online, with the “largest portion” spent with Betfred. The individual in question was sentenced to 40 months in prison this January.

Despite the punter being in the top 5% of Betfred’s customers in terms of spend and profit, the UKGC determined that Betfred had made only “informal, ad-hoc” efforts to identify the source of the punter’s wealth and had failed to keep proper records of these checks.