Gambling Commission issues penalties totalling £4.5million

“As part of the Gambling Commission’s ongoing investigation into the online casino sector it has determined to issue the following fines:

• InTouch Games Limited: £2.2million settlement
• Betit Operations Limited: £1.4million settlement
• MT Secure Trade: £700,000 settlement
• BestBet Limited: £230,972 settlement

The Gambling Commission identified that the businesses had failed to implement effective safeguards to prevent money laundering and keep customers safe from gambling related harm. The detailed public statements for each of the enquiries can be found here.

Key failures include:

• Completion of appropriate Anti-Money Laundering risk assessments in accordance with licence condition 12.1.1(1);
• Failure to implement appropriate policies, procedures and controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in accordance with licence condition 12.1.1(2);
• Failure to ensure specified management offices are by Personal Management Licence (PML) holders in accordance with licence condition 1.2.1; and
• Failure to implement effective policies and procedures for customer interaction required by Social Responsibility Code 3.4.1.

Over the last 18 months the Gambling Commission has conducted assessments of, or engaged with 123 online operators, 45 of which have been asked to submit an action plan to raise standards. 34 operators were identified as being compliant with the Gambling Commission’s standards or had minor issues which have been or are in the process of being remedied.”

The Gambling Commission’s Executive Director has stated: “We expect operators to know their customers and to ask the right questions to make sure they meet their Anti-Money Laundering and social responsibility obligations.”