La UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) e Bet365 have reached a settlement of a £582.120 fine relating to anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings the company made in its bingo and casino businesses. These shortcomings were discovered during a Commission compliance assessment in March last year.
In total, Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC, which holds the license for bet365's bingo and casino products, will have to pay £343.035, while Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, which holds the license to offer betting, will have to pay £239.085.
All of the money will go towards social responsibility initiatives as part of a regulatory settlement with the Gambling Commission.
The violations were discovered during a Commission compliance assessment in March 2022.
Violations in terms of social responsibility include:
- customer interactions were often not tailored to the specific customer journey or harm spectrum and therefore interactions were not meaningful;
- an early risk detection system was not effective in understanding the impact of individual interactions on a customer's behavior;
- the assessment approach was unable to effectively ascertain whether a customer had read and understood the information or advice provided within their interactions.
AML failures include:
- have greater customer due diligence and know any shortcomings in money laundering risk management;
- not having carried out the necessary checks on new customers before their first deposits;
- not carrying out independent verification checks and in addition to relying on customers' annual self-verification of knowing customer information, such as identification documents;
- the procedure document contained inadequate detail about who would be considered “at risk” and “not at risk” for client risk profiling.
Kay Roberts, executive director of operations, said: “The policies and procedural deficiencies may not have been as severe as those of other gambling businesses in recent years, but they are violations nonetheless. We expect high standards from operators in terms of maintaining safe, fair and crime-free gambling."
