The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has become known for its financial penalties. Since campaigners looked to the UKGC to tidy up the industry, it has been on the warpath. As a result, various companies have received massive fines from the regulatory body, and others have even chosen to leave the UK market, declaring it a hostile trading environment.
This probably means that their methods are working.
This recent surge in penalties is not exactly new for the UKGC, although their number and severity has increased. In years past, it has issued fines for misdemeanours big and small, and all sorts of companies have found themselves in the firing line. That’s what we want to look at here today.
This guide will look at all the penalties meted out by the Gambling Commission. We’ll start with the most recent ones and go back in time to inform on those from the past. This way, you will be able to see how much the Commission has gained in fines and for what.
Bear in mind though, that UKGC penalties only go back as far as 2016. That’s when the first major fine over £1 million occurred against Camelot.
The tables below display the fines issued, and what they were for at a glance.
2024
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Bet365 | £582,120 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Gamesys | £6,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
2023
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Lindar Media Limited | £690,947 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Betfred | £3,250,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Star Racing | £594,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
VideoSlots | £2,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Paddy Power | £490,000 | Marketing to Self-Excluded Gamblers |
Skill on Net | £305,150 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
TGP Europe LTD | £316,250 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
William Hill | £19,200,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
32Red | £4,195,655 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Platinum Gaming | £2,937,599 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Blue Planet LTD | £620,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
InTouch Games | £6,100,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
TonyBet | £442,750 | Unfair Terms on Website |
Vivaro LTD | £337,631 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
2022
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
AG Communications | £237,600 | Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
GGPoker | £672,829 | Marketing to Self-Excluded Gamblers |
Betfred | £2,870,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Betway | £408,915 | Marketing on Children’s Websites |
Spreadex | £1,360,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Entain | £17,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Smarkets | £630,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
LeoVegas | £1,300,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Jumpman Gaming | £500,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Progress Play | £175,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Camelot | £3,150,000 | Marketing to Self-Excluded Gamblers |
Sky Betting and Gaming | £1,700,000 | Marketing to Self-Excluded Gamblers |
888 UK LTD | £9,400,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
BetVictor | £2,000,000 | Fairness and Social Responsibility Failures |
Onsiac LTD | £850,000 | Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Genesis Global | £3,800,000 | Social Responsibility Failures |
Rank Digital Gaming | £700,557 | Social Responsibility Failures |
Annexio | £612,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
2021
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Buzz Group | £780,000 | Failing to Protect At-Risk Customers |
Greentube Alderney | £685,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
EU Lotto | £760,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Daub Alderney | £5,850,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
A&S Leisure | £377,340 | Failing to Implement Risk-Sensitive Policies and Anti-Money Laundering Controls |
Double Diamond Gaming | £247,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Les Croupiers Casino | £202,500 | Failing to Implement Effective Safer Gambling Controls |
Clockfair LTD | £260,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Shaftesbury Casino | £260,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Casumo | £6,000,000 | Social Responsibility, Anti-Money Laundering Failures & Ignoring Commission’s Guidance on Customer Interaction |
InTouch Games | £3,400,000 | Social Responsibility, Anti-Money Laundering & Marketing Failures |
White Hat Gaming | £1,300,000 | Social Responsibility Failures |
2020
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
BoyleSports | £2,800,000 | Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
GAN PLC | £46,000 | Social Responsibility, Anti-Money Laundering & Risk Assessment Failures |
NetBet | £748,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
BGO Entertainment | £2,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Triplebet | £740,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Caesars Entertainment UK | £13,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Betway | £11,600,000 | Accepting Stolen Money |
Mr Green | £3,000,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
2019
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Betfred | £322,000 | Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Ladbrokes Coral Group | £5,900,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Platinum Gaming | £1,600,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Gamesys (Gibraltar) | £1,200,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
InTouch Games | £2,200,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
MT Securetrade Limited | £700,000 | Social Responsibility, Anti-Money Laundering & Customer Interaction Failures |
Betit Operations | £1,400,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Bestbet Limited | £230,972 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
2018
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Daub Alderney | $7,100,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Paddy Power Betfair | £2,200,000 | Social Responsibility & Anti-Money Laundering Failures |
Mark Jarvis | £94,000 | Customer Interaction Failures |
Rank Group | £500,000 | Failure to Protect Problem Gambler |
32Red | £2,000,000 | Failure to Protect a Consumer |
LeoVegas | £600,000 | Advertising & Marketing Failures |
TabCorp | £84,000 | Failure to Manage Risks of Novelty Bets |
Bonne Terre LTD | £1,000,000 | Failure to Protect Vulnerable Consumers |
ElektraWorks LTD | £350,000 | Marketing Failures |
2017
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
888 | £7,800,000 | Failure to Protect Vulnerable Consumers |
BGO Entertainment | £300,000 | Misleading Advertising |
Two Individuals (Not a Company) | £265,000 | Offering Illegal Gambling on FIFA Computer Game |
2016
Company | Penalty Amount | Reason |
---|---|---|
Camelot | £3,000,000 | Licence Breach |
Camelot | £300,000 | Risking Public Confidence |
Betfred | £800,000 | Social Responsibility Failures |
Individuals (Not a Company) | £32,000 | Illegal Gambling Crackdown |
Fines in 2024
It was a comparatively quiet start to 2024 as far as UKGC fines were concerned.
A lot of the time these penalties are for breaches of regulations that occurred a few years prior, but it takes so long to investigate and settle on a figure that the fine itself can come years after the company has sorted themselves out.
It stands to reason then that the number of fines issued would start to decrease several years after the UKGC really started coming down hard on those that were not doing enough to take responsibility for their business practices.
In other words, most of the time UKGC fines are given for historic failings, and gambling companies have realised that they can’t get away with only putting in the minimum effort anymore.
It should also help that the rules around what is expected of gambling companies have become much clearer since the government white paper that came out in 2023 after a huge delay.
Something I will say for gambling companies, is that they didn’t exactly have clear guidance on what was and wasn’t acceptable in terms of social responsibility and anti-money laundering safeguarding processes, for example. Some may have thought they were compliant, only to be told later that they were not.
Nevertheless, the year did kick off with a pretty hefty fine for a company called Gamesys.
Gamesys Starts 2024 With £6 Million Fine
During a Commission compliance assessment in May of 2022, the UKGC came across some worrying findings relating to Gamesys’ social responsibility and anti-money laundering processes.
Gamesys Operations Ltd are an online casino operator who were running 12 different casino sites at the time of the fine. Three of them were brands they owned themselves, and the other nine were white labels owned by 3rd parties but running on Gamesys’s platform using their license.
The breaches occurred between November 2021 and July 2022.
Social responsibility failings included:
Not always identifying customers at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling by:
- placing inappropriate reliance on checks which indicate whether a customer had a historical individual voluntary arrangement or been bankrupt or insolvent as a sign of gambling harm
- having a system of deposit limits which, for some customers, did not identify risks of harm quickly enough – no risks were identified when one customer deposited £8,255 within three days of opening an account, another lost £5,968 within five weeks of opening account and another lost £17,482 within 34 days of opening an account
Not always interacting with customers who may be at risk of or experiencing harms associated with gambling. Examples include:
- only interacting with one customer once they had lost almost £10,000, and that ‘responsible gambling interaction’ involved the recommendation of new games and promotions
- carrying out only one responsible gambling interaction with a consumer who lost £19,709 over five months
Records of interactions, considerations, and rationale for decisions were not always recorded in sufficient detail, despite this being specified in the Licensee’s responsible gambling procedures.
In terms on anti-money laundering, failings included:
- in certain circumstances, some customers were able to evade some of the Licensee’s AML triggers/thresholds and go on to spend significant sums without AML checks being conducted – one customer deposited £14,585 in a 28 week period, another deposited £18,884 in just over six months and another deposited £34,280 in five and a half months
- conducting inadequate customer due diligence and being over-reliant on third party information (such as internet research) or the customer’s verbal assurances for a number of customers, including one who deposited over £25,000 in three months, another who deposited over £58,000 in six months, and another who deposited over £65,000 in six months
- having a ‘Reinvestment of winnings policy’ which was insufficient to mitigate the risk that deposited funds could be from illegitimate sources and not just from previous winnings.
A £6 million fine was agreed upon, which will go back to the UKGC to be used promoting responsible gambling and supporting those who are suffering from gambling harm.
Fines in 2023
Without a doubt, the penalty that had everyone talking in 2023 was William Hill’s. The UKGC issued the fine in March, requiring the company to pay £19.2 million.
Even though several records have come before it, this stands as the largest industry fine to date. The massive sum came from three gambling businesses owned by the brand.
The breakdown for that penalty was as follows:
- WHG (International) Limited, which is responsible for williamhill.com, fined £12.5 million.
- Mr Green Limited, responsible for mrgreen.com, fined £3.7 million.
- William Hill Organisation Limited, which operates 1,344 gambling shops across Britain, fined £3 million.
A long list of issues came to light after the Commission investigated William Hill. All problems surrounded anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures. The CEO of the Commission said that the failings uncovered were very “widespread”. So much so that the regulatory body considered suspending the brand’s licence. It never came to this as William Hill recognised its failings immediately. The company then set about implementing improvements alongside the UKGC.
Some of the problems discovered at the William Hill sites and shops included:
- Insufficient controls in place to protect new customers. One customer was allowed to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes with no check taking place. Another spent over £32,500 at Mr Green in two days after opening their account.
- Failure to identify certain customers at risk of experiencing gambling-related harm.
- Failure to apply a 24-hour delay between receiving a request for an increase in credit limit and granting it.
- Ineffective controls allowed 331 players to gamble with WHG (International) Limited despite having self-excluded.
- Allowing customers to deposit large amounts without conducting appropriate checks, with one player being able to spend and lose £70,134 in one month.
- Customers were able to stake large amounts of money without being monitored or scrutinised.
- AML staff training provided insufficient information on risks and how to manage them.
The Commission said it would use the £19.2 million for social responsibility purposes. William Hill also had extra licence conditions applied. This ensures that a business board member oversees an improvement plan. A third-party audit also has to take place in due course.
32Red and Platinum Gaming
The penalty handed to William Hill came one week after 32Red and Platinum Gaming received theirs. Together, they had a £7.1 million fine to pay. The issues, again, surrounded anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures. 32Red Limited is the company that owns 32red.com. It received a fine of £4,195,655, while Platinum Gaming had to pay £2,937,599. That company operates the unibet.co.uk website. Both brands also received an official warning from the UKGC.
The problems found from the investigation were much like those discovered at William Hill. Some of the issues highlighted include:
- 32Red customer gambling session times should have prompted earlier identification of customers at risk of harm.
- The customer interactions at 32Red were found to be superficial and lacking in depth.
- Platinum Gaming did not have effective policies and procedures in place to identify separate accounts held by one and the same person.
- 32Red failed to implement the measures described in the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds guide effectively.
- An over-reliance on confidence that funds coming through Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated firms removed proceeds of crime risk was operational at 32Red.
- Platinum Gaming’s policies and procedures in relation to AML were inappropriate.
InTouch Games
It was InTouch Games that received the financial penalty to kick off 2023. On January 25, the Commission issued a fine of £6.1 million to the operator. After an investigation, the UKGC revealed failures in the areas of AML and social responsibility. InTouch has responsibility for running 11 online sites. They include bonusboss.co.uk, jammymonkey.com and slotfactory.com, amongst others. In March of 2022, the brand failed a compliance assessment.
The social responsibility failures included:
- Not interacting with a customer until seven weeks after they had been flagged for such following erratic play patterns and extended periods of gameplay.
- Accepting a customer’s word that they earned £6,000-a-month, without properly verifying this.
Anti-money laundering was another problem at the sites, with issues like:
- Not adequately considering the risk of a customer being the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, having links to high-risk jurisdictions or being a politically exposed person (PEP).
- Not having policies, procedures and controls in place that address the risk factors noted above.
- Not considering the UKGC’s money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment properly.
This fine marked the third time that InTouch Games received regulatory action. It had similar issues in both 2021 and 2019. This stood out as the reason for the escalated fine amount in 2023.
A Selection of Smaller Fines
The majority of fines in 2023 so far have been for AML and social responsibility problems. The UKGC issued smaller penalties for such licence breaches to:
- Tuesday May 23 – Skill on Net fined £305,150.
- Wednesday April 5 – TGP Europe LTD fined £316,250.
- Thursday February 16 – Blue Planet LTD fined £620,000
- Tuesday January 17 – Vivaro LTD fined £337,631.
The other two fines that the Commission has issued this year are for two different problems. PPB Counterparty Services Limited (Paddy Power) received a penalty of £490,000. This occurred on May 25. The penalty came about due to the company marketing to self-excluding players. An investigation found that the brand had sent push notifications to these players’ devices in 2021. This offered enhanced odds on an English Premier League match.
The other smaller fine of 2023 went to TonyBet LTD. It received a penalty of £442,750 from the Commission on Wednesday January 18. This was for having unfair terms on its website. Certain rules around AML and social responsibility were also breached. The company also had an extra term imposed on it, which requires a third-party audit.
So far in 2023, the total amount in fines issued by the UKGC stands at £34,945,035.
2022
Before the massive William Hill fine of 2023, another company held the record. That came from a penalty issued in 2022 to the Entain brand. More on that fine shortly.
The Betfred brand owner was in hot water in September of 2022. Petfre LTD received a fine of £2,870,000 at that time. It’s failings? AML and social responsibility, of course!
Petfre LTD owns and operates the Betfred and OddsKing websites. Alongside its fine, the company received an official warning for its failures. Some of those failures by Petfre included:
- No controls in place to prevent large levels of high velocity spend by new customers. As a result, one customer managed to lose more than £70,000 in a 10-hour period just one day after opening their account.
- Safer gambling interaction triggers were set too high.
- Not having proper policies and procedures in place to manage and mitigate the money laundering and terrorist financing (MLTF) risks.
- Failure to properly implement the measures described in the Money Laundering Regulations.
Spreadex Limited also received a £1 million+ penalty in August of 2022. A Commission investigation revealed it had also failed in the AML and social responsibility areas. As part of a settlement with the Commission, Spreadex paid its fine to social responsibility causes. That saw £1.36 million put to good use. The brand’s failures included:
- Having ineffective financial alerts, thus allowing customers to lose significant amounts over short timeframes.
- Placing an overreliance on financial alerts to identify customers at potential risk.
- Not recording and evaluating customer interactions in a sufficient way.
- A customer was able to deposit £1.7 million and lose £500,000 during a one-month period.
- A customer who met a £25,000 financial deposit alert had the alert for further review increased to £100,000 based on self-declaration of income.
- A customer was able to continue depositing after providing redacted bank statements in response to request for evidence of Source of Funds (SoF).
Entain Claims 2022 Record for Largest Fine
It was only about one week before Spreadex received its fine that Entain received one, too. Except this brand’s was much larger, standing at £17 million. Both the company’s online and land-based businesses were guilty of failures. As a result, the Commission took aim at the online business side, LC International Limited. That ran 13 websites for the company, including ladbrokes.com, coral.co.uk, and others. It received a £14 million penalty. The extra £3 million penalty surrounded problems at Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited. This arm of the company ran 2,746 gambling shops across Britain.
The entire £17 million fine went to socially responsible purposes. That was a settlement between Entain and the UKGC. It also had extra licence conditions applied. A third-party audit was also imposed, to take place within 12 months of the fine. The CEO of the Commission said the regulatory body would be closely watching Entain. Some of the social responsibility failures of the brand included:
- Being slow to interact with, or not interacting at all with, certain customers in a way which would minimise their risk of experiencing harm. Only a single chat took place with an online customer who spent extended timeframes gambling overnight across 18 months.
- Allowing customers who were subject to enquiries and restrictions to open accounts with the licensee’s other brands. One player was blocked at Coral due to spending £60,000 in 12 months and failed to provide a SOF check was able to open an account at Ladbrokes.
- A retail customer was not escalated for a safer gambling review, despite betting £29,372 and losing £11,345 in one month.
When it comes to AML, Entain had a few problems to highlight, too. They included:
- Failure to conduct an adequate risk assessment of the risks of their online business being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Allowing online customers to deposit large amounts without carrying out proper SOF checks. One customer managed to deposit £742,000 in 14 months without such checks taking place.
- Failure to conduct enhanced customer due diligence checks soon enough.
- Placing too much reliance on open-source information.
- Allowing players to bet large sums of money without any monitoring or scrutiny. A retail customer staked a total of £168,000 at shop terminals over eight months before the operator performed checks.
The regulatory settlement worked out with LC International consisted of:
- Divestment of £544,048.03 and payment in lieu of £13,455,952, creating a total payment of £14,000,000 in lieu of financial penalty.
- Agreement to the publication of a statement of facts in relation to the case.
- Agreement by LCI to vary its operating licence to add conditions to its operating licence, namely:
- To appoint a Board-level sponsor, reporting directly to the Chair, to assume responsibility for the implementation of its action plan, and
- Undertake a follow-up independent audit of relevant policies and procedures within 12 months to ensure whether it is effectively implementing its AML and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
- Payment of the Commission’s costs of conducting the review.
Camelot Falls Foul of Mobile App Failures
It’s true to say that even the UK’s lottery operator since 1994 can experience penalties, too. In March of 2022, Camelot received a £3.15 million fine from the UKGC. This was all linked to failures in its downloadable mobile app. The operator of the lottery said it would pay the money to good causes. An investigation by the Commission discovered three failures in the app. These, it said, would have a negative impact on the lottery’s consumers.
The first of those failures saw the app inform 20,000 players of an incorrect result. Upon scanning their winning draw-based tickets via the QR scanner, it stated that these were non-winners. That took place between November 2016 and September 2020.
The second issue involved a total of 22,210 lottery players. These gamers bought a single draw-based ticket through the app. Yet they received and were also charged for two tickets. Camelot identified those players and received either a refund or, where the wagers were winners, a payout.
Finally, the third failure saw the app send out marketing messages to users who had self-excluded via GamStop. Even though players received such messages, none of the 65,400 gamers were able to buy a lottery product.
888 UK Has Its Own Problems with Money Laundering and Social Responsibility
On March 1 of 2022, the 888 brand also had a fine issued to it. This stood at £9.4 million, following revelations of AML and social responsibility failures. The 888 UK Limited company owned 78 online websites at the time, including 888.com. The Commission issued the company with an official warning alongside the monetary penalty. It stood out as the second time that 888 UK had been on the receiving end of such enforcement. In 2017, the company also received a vast fine for failing its vulnerable players. The £9.4 million issued in March was one of the largest penalties at the time.
It was also made clear that further failings by 888 would mean harsher punishments. The CEO of the Commission suggested looking at whether 888 is suitable for a UK licence. Some of the social responsibility and AML failures of the company in 2022 included:
- Not identifying players at risk of harm in an effective way. This was due to the policies suggesting checks be carried out after a customer had deposited £40,000.
- Not carrying out an interaction with a player who lost £37,000 in six weeks during lockdown.
- Not taking into account the UKGC formal guidance on customer interaction.
- Giving a customer who identified as an NHS worker on £1,400-a-month a monthly deposit cap of £1,300.
- No evidence of the operator proactively restricting accounts with social responsibility concerns.
- Accepting verbal assurances from customers as to employment income.
- Not setting out the appropriate documents to be requested for SOF checks.
- Allowing a customer to spend £65,835 in a five-month period without SOF checks occurring.
- Not effectively implementing its own policies stating that customers have 10 days to present SOF documentation before account restriction occurs.
Genesis Global Receives Fine AND Licence Suspension
It’s bad enough having to pay a fine when the Commission discovers failures. Yet what about having your official licence targeted as well? That’s exactly what happened to Genesis Global in January of 2022. The company ran 14 websites at the time of the fine, including genesiscasino.com and casinocruise.com. The monetary penalty stood at £3.8 million, and there was an official warning included.
It also had to deal with a suspension of its official gambling licence in the United Kingdom. As a result, it was unable to operate within the country during that time.
The licence suspension occurred back in 2020 when the investigation into Genesis began. Effective from July 20 of that year, this suspension lifted three months later. This came about following significant compliance improvements. That didn’t stop the Commission’s investigation from continuing, though. In January 2022, the £3.8 million fine arrived. This came with the warning and further licence conditions for the operator.
The social responsibility and AML failures of Genesis Global included:
- Not carrying out meaningful responsible gambling interactions with a customer who spent £245,000 in three months. Three days into their activity, Genesis knew the player was an NHS nurse earning £30,000-a-year.
- Not carrying out meaningful responsible gambling interactions or establishing affordability of a customer who lost £197,000 over a six-month period. The customer closed her account, wanting to spend more time with her family, and was then allowed to open another account and deposit £200.
- Only requested a SOF check on a customer after they had lost £209,000. Genesis estimated that the player was earning £111,000-a-year, because the player had told them they were a director in London. The operator failed to see the company was dormant.
- One customer was able to deposit over £1.3 million and lose £600,000 prior to a SOF check taking place.
- A customer was allowed to lose more than £107,000 over six months. No SOF check was completed.
2022’s Other Penalties
As with other years, there were some smaller penalties issued in 2022. The vast majority of these surrounded AML and social responsibility failures. Companies and their fines for such issues included:
- Wednesday November 30 – AG Communications fined £237,600.
- Friday August 12 – Smarkets fined £630,000.
- Wednesday August 3 – LeoVegas fined £1,300,000.
- Tuesday May 17 – Jumpman Gaming LTD fined £500,000.
- Tuesday May 17 – Progress Play LTD fined £175,000.
- Friday February 25 – BetVictor fined £2,000,000.
- Friday February 25 – Onsiac LTD fined £850,000.
- Thursday January 20 – Rank Digital Gaming fined £700,557.
- Thursday January 20 – Annexio fined £612,000.
Again, there were a few other fines issued in 2022 for other failures. In October, NSUS LTD, which operates GGPoker, received a fine of £672,829. The company not only had AML and social responsibility failures, but other issues. The company sent out promotional emails to 125 problem gamblers. Those players had chosen to self-exclude, but still received the email from GGPoker.
Sky Betting and Gaming received its own fine for marketing issues in March of 2022. The Commission discovered that the company sent free spins emails to customers who had self-excluded. Those emails came from the SkyVegas brand, which is a part of Sky Betting and Gaming. The parent company of that brand is Flutter Entertainment. Within the email, players we offered 100 free spins if they wagered £5. A total of 41,395 self-excluded players received the message. Meanwhile, a further 249,159 customers who had unsubscribed from marketing emails received it. The Commission fined the company £1.17 million.
The other fine of 2022 arrived at Betway’s door in September of 2022. The UKGC issued a penalty of £408,915 for marketing on children’s website pages. Between April 14, 2020, and November 6, 2021, the logo of Betway with link were present on the West Ham site. That website features a children’s section, where kids could download a picture of a teddy bear. This was for the children to print out and colour in. Furthermore, between October 24, 2021, and November 15, 2021, the same logo and link were present elsewhere. This saw them show up on the ‘Young Hammers at Home’ page. Both instances of marketing breached the licensing conditions of Betway.
2021
It was primarily towards the beginning of 2021 that the biggest fines arrived. Yet on Wednesday September 1, Daub Alderney was on the receiving end of a £5.85 million penalty.
An investigation had uncovered social responsibility and AML failures. Daub Alderney was responsible for sites like aspers.com, luckyvip.com, and others. The company received formal warnings for failures between January 2019 and March 2020.
Some of the problems that the Commission found Daub guilty of included:
- One customer managed to lose £43,410 in four months, despite displaying problem gambling harm indicators. They had utilised four different payment cards in one day and reversed a total of £133,873 in requested withdrawals.
- In one month, a customer lost £40,500, but the operator only sent the consumer two safer gambling messages.
- In a three-and-a-half-month timeframe, a customer lost £39,000 and only received a single safer gambling message.
- One customer was able to deposit £50,000 before a SOF check was conducted.
- Another player deposited $41,500 in one month and no SOF check evidence was submitted.
What makes this fine more interesting is that Daub Alderney appealed the decision. The operator appealed to the First-Tier Tribunal, claiming that the penalty was excessive. It also labelled it unfair and disproportionate. Yet, the court rejected the operator’s appeal. Judge Findlay dismissed it, stating that the penalty was both fair and reasonable.
Casumo Receives 2021’s Largest Fine of £6 Million
Casumo Casino is a well-known online gambling brand. It is, of course, owned by the Casumo operator. In March of 2021, it was on the receiving end of a £6 million fine – the year’s largest. An assessment by the Commission revealed AML and social responsibility failings. The company also received an official warning following the investigation. Some of the brand’s failures in those areas included:
- One customer lost £1.1 million across a three-year period without any responsible gambling interaction taking place.
- Another player lost £65,000 in one month without any interaction occurring.
- The Commission’s guidance on customer interaction was not taken into account, meaning that a customer was able to lose £89,000 in only five hours. Another managed to lose £59,000 in a 90-minute timeframe.
- Customers were able to deposit large sums of money without sufficient AML checks taking place.
- SOF checks were insufficient – payslips and invoices submitted as evidence of such were not corroborated with bank statements.
- Inadequate checks of documentation for authenticity.
- Winnings from other gambling operators were accepted as adequate SOF checks.
As part of a new licence condition for Casumo, it had to have a third-party auditing company carry out checks. This was to occur at Casumo’s expense, with transactions after July 1, 2020, under examination.
InTouch Games and Its AML/Social Responsibility Failures
On March 17 of 2021, the Commission instructed InTouch Games to go through extensive auditing. This came about following the discovery of various failures. These existed in the areas of AML, social responsibility and marketing. An official warning was also handed out, while a £3.4 million penalty came its way. Seven customers who had displayed signs of problem gambling went without help. The company also failed to ensure effective decision-making procedures were in use. The players’ deposit activity should have flagged up, but InTouch ignored it.
Incorrect due diligence checks on a player’s SOF took place. There was little risk assessment done on payment providers acting as cryptocurrency exchanges. Plus, the Commission criticised InTouch Games’ SMS marketing techniques. Messages failed to state minimum and maximum deposit limits for a bonus reward.
Some of the highlighted problems in the official report from the UKGC include:
- A statement in the Responsible Gambling Team interaction guidance suggests a bonus may be offered if a customer provides identification.
- Not effectively utilising its own customer interaction policies for seven customers.
- Not using all relevant sources of information to make sure effective decision-making occurred.
- Neglecting to conduct proper levels of Enhanced Customer Due Diligence.
- Failing to accurately review SOF information once it had been requested.
Other Fines from 2021
Several other fines occurred in 2021, although they were smaller in comparison. As has become commonplace, most of them surrounded AML and social responsibility. The Commission handed out penalties to the following brands and companies:
- Thursday December 16 – Buzz Group LTD fined £780,000.
- Thursday December 2 – Greentube Alderney fined £685,000.
- Friday September 24 – EU Lotto fined £760,000.
- Wednesday March 31 – A&S Leisure Group LTD fined £377,340.
- Wednesday March 31 – Double Diamond Gaming LTD fined £247,000.
- Wednesday March 31 – Les Croupiers Casino LTD fined £202,500.
- Wednesday March 31 – Clockfair LTD fined £260,000.
- Wednesday March 31 – Shaftesbury Casino LTD fined £260,000.
- Thursday January 28 – White Hat Gaming fined £1,300,000.
2020
A smaller selection of penalties occurred in 2020. Yet there were two instances of monumental fines, which were record-breaking at the time.
On April 2, 2020, Caesars Entertainment received a penalty of £13 million from the UKGC. The biggest problems discovered with the operator were its VIP schemes. At the time, the regulatory body was considering banning these programs altogether.
Caesars was a land-based gambling business in the UK, operating 11 casinos in Britain. Serious systematic failings came to light about VIP players.
The social responsibility and AML failures discovered included:
- Inadequate interaction with a player who was known to the company and had previously self-excluded. The player lost £240,000 over 13 months.
- Inadequate interaction with a player who lost £323,000 in 12 months and displayed signs of problem gambling.
- A customer lost £18,000 in one year, even though she had identified herself as a self-employed nanny. She informed employees that her savings had been spent and she was borrowing money from family and using an overdraft facility.
- Inadequate SOF checks on a customer who was able to drop about £3.5 million and lose £1.6 million over three months.
- Operator did not obtain adequate DOF evidence from a PEP who lost £795,000 in 13 months.
- Inadequate SOF checks done on a customer who identified as a waitress. She was allowed to buy-in £87,000 and lose $15,000 in 12 months.
One of the biggest outcomes from the sanctions imposed on Caesars was the exit of three managers. They held senior positions with the company. Yet after the decision of the Commission, they surrendered their personal licences.
All £13 million of the penalty went towards delivering the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
Betway Issued with £11.6 Million Fine
It wasn’t only Caesars that had failings linked to VIP players, either. Only a few short weeks before that, Betway had a fine for £11.6 million issued to it. Its failures rested in the same area – AML and social responsibility towards VIP gamblers. The report from the Commission highlighted seven players suffered as a result of Betway’s policies. In one instance, a player was able to deposit over £8 million and lose more than £4 million. Across the four-year period, no SOF checks took place. Another time, the company did not carry out effective checks on someone who deposited and lose £187,000 in 2 days.
The UKGC determined that due to the lack of checks, Betway allowed £5.8 million to pass through its business. That money was or could have been suspected to be proceeds of crime. It divested and returned most of the funds to victims.
Some were quite concerned over the Commission’s decision, though. While the fine was a record at the time, many criticised the regulatory body. They said that it could have made use of its power to suspend or revoke Betway’s licence. Even though the company had had a long list of failures, the UKGC didn’t act on them. Yet the CEO of Betway said that the company had no interest in profiting from stolen funds. It commented on the work it had put in to improve its systems.
The Remaining Fines of 2021, Including Mr. Green’s £3 Million Outlay
Altogether, in 2020, the UKGC issued fines equating to almost £40 million. As well as those handed out to Betway and Caesars Entertainment, other big names suffered. In all instances, the problems surrounded AML and social responsibility failures. The start of the year saw Mr Green receive a fine of £3 million for such failings. Owned by William Hill, it became the ninth gambling company to face action as part of a probe beginning in 2018. Since that enforcement began, six operators surrendered their licence. Mr Green opted to pay the £3 million penalty package, though. The other brands failing in 2020 include:
- Wednesday April 8 – Triplebet LTD fined £740,000.
- Monday September 28 – BGO Entertainment fined £2,000,000.
- Monday September 28 – NetBet fined £748,000.
- Monday September 28 – GAN PLC fined £46,000.
- Thursday November 12 – BoyleSports fined £2,800,000.
2019
The biggest fine issued in 2019 came to the Ladbrokes Coral Group. The UKGC delivered this on Wednesday, July 31.
It surrounded past failings on anti-money laundering and social responsibility. The penalty package, equating to £5.9 million, included a series of improvement measures. The new owner of the company at the time, GVC Holdings (now Entain), had to install those changes.
It was also down to the new company to pay the £5.9 million penalty. That’s despite the fact that at the time of the breaches, it did not own Ladbrokes Coral.
The investigation found various issues. Between November 2014, and October 2017, Ladbrokes and Coral had ineffective safeguards. These should have been present to protect consumers against gambling harm. AML policies were also inadequate. The problems continued even after Ladbrokes and Coral merged into one. Included in the collection of failures were:
- Ladbrokes did not carry out any social responsibility interactions with a customer who lost more than £98,000 over two-and-a-half years. A total of 460 deposit attempts were also declined.
- A customer spent around £1.5 million over almost three years, but Coral did not request evidence of SOF. During their time gambling at Coral, the customer displayed clear signs of problem gambling.
- Ladbrokes was unable to present evidence of carrying out social interactions with a customer who deposited more than £140,000 in their first four months of their account being open.
Ladbrokes Coral owner GVC Holdings reached a settlement with the Commission. This determined that GVC would pay £4.8 million instead of a financial penalty. It would also divest £1.1 million that it gained from customers as a result of its failings. It was also requested that GVC review the top 50 customers between 2015 and 2017. This would determine whether any further failings could be identified. If so, they would divest themselves of profit in an appropriate way.
The company also committed to making improvements to the business. This included overhauling its responsible gaming and customer interaction process. Retraining of employees was also necessary, as was the hiring of new staff.
Various Other Fines Meted Out
Altogether, in 2019, the UKGC handed out eight fines, including the one to Ladbrokes Coral. All those penalties surrounded AML and social responsibility failures. While the Ladbrokes Coral one was the largest, four others were fines above £1 million. They included penalties imposed on Platinum Gaming, Gamesys, InTouch Games and Betit Operations. These fines, as well as the lower ones, occurred on the following dates:
- Tuesday October 10 – Petfre (Gibraltar) fined £322,000.
- Wednesday June 12 – Platinum Gaming fined £1,600,000.
- Tuesday June 11 – Gamesys (Gibraltar) fined £1,200,000.
- Wednesday May 15 – InTouch Games LTD fined £2,200,000.
- Wednesday May 15 – MT SecureTrade LTD fined £700,000.
- Wednesday May 15 – Betit Operations LTD fined £1,400,000.
- Wednesday April 3 – Bestbet LTD fined £230,972.
2018
There were two major fines issued in 2018, to Daub Alderney and Paddy Power Betfair. The former company’s fine of £7.1 million occurred on Tuesday, November 13.
The online business received the fine on the grounds of AML and social responsibility problems. It failed to follow the rules from the Commission on preventing money laundering. Plus, it failed at protecting vulnerable players. Extra conditions were also placed on the brand’s licence.
At the time, this stood out as a very significant penalty money-wise. Daub Alderney got an official warning under section 117(1)(a) of the Gambling Act 2005.
With regard to the Paddy Power Betfair penalty, this came about on its exchange. It failed to protect customers and stop players using stolen money to gamble with. The report revealed that the brand did not interact with customers displaying gambling problems. It also did not conduct any AML checks. There were two customers using the betting exchange with stolen money. Three others were utilising the online and retail premises of the company. A significant amount of stolen money passed through the exchange. As a result, the regulatory body imposed a fine of £2.2 million on Paddy Power Betfair.
A further seven penalties came about in 2018, which were smaller figures. They were for a range of issues, which were as follows:
- Monday October 15 – Mark Jarvis fined £94,000 for customer interaction failures.
- Wednesday October 10 – Rank Group fined £500,000 for failing to protect a problem gambler.
- Wednesday June 20 – 32Red fined £2,000,000 for failing to protect a customer.
- Wednesday May 2 – LeoVegas fined £600,000 for advertising and marketing failings.
- Friday April 13 – TabCorp fined £84,000 for failing to properly manage the risks associated with offering novelty bets.
- Wednesday March 28 – Bonne Terre LTD fined £1,000,000 for failing to protect vulnerable customers.
- Wednesday February 14 – ElektraWorks LTD fined £350,000 for marketing failures.
2017
In 2017, the UKGC only issued three fines. Yet there was a large one delivered in August of that year, which went to 888.
The £7.8 million penalty came as a result of serious failings in handling vulnerable players. That fine existed as a record penalty for some time, thanks to significant flaws found with 888 UK.
The investigation by the Commission discovered:
- A technical failure in the systems of 888 saw more than 7,000 self-excluded customers still able to access their online accounts via the bingo platform. The issue went undetected for a prolonged timeframe, meaning customers could deposit £3.5 million and gamble for more than 13 months.
- 888 failed to notice signs of problem gambling behaviour displayed by an individual. This was so significant that it resulted in criminal activity, with the customer staking more than £1.3 million. A total of £55,000 of that sum was money stolen from their place of employment.
The £7.8 million penalty package included repayment of £3.5 million. This is the amount deposited by self-excluded players. Compensation of £62,000 to the employer which had funds stolen from it was also included. The remaining £4.25 million went towards socially responsible causes. An independent audit of 888’s processes was also ordered by the Commission.
The other two penalties imposed in 2017 came on May 2 and February 6 of the year. BGO Entertainment received a £300,000 fine for misleading advertising on its own site and affiliate sites. This served as the very first penalty imposed by the UKGC for advertisement failures.
Two men were also convicted and fined £265,000 after offering illegal gambling. The culprits, Dylan Rigby, 34, and Craig Douglas, 33, both from Essex, entered guilty pleas. Rigby had orders to pay £174,000 in fines and costs. Douglas had to pay £91,000 for the same. The pair admitted to being the directors of Game Gold Tradings Limited. That company operated and advertised FutGalaxy.com, which was an unlicensed site. The presiding judge concluded that children had been gambling on the website. Yet it was impossible to know how many had done so or the effect of it. The site allowed users to buy virtual currency known as FUT coins. They could then use those coins to gamble and convert them into FIFA coins to use on FIFA games.
2016
In 2016, a set of four fines occurred, with Camelot being the recipient of the largest. This happened on Friday, December 16, and stood at £3 million. The National Lottery operator received the fine after an allegation of fraud arose. This surrounded a lottery prize paid out in 2009. The Commission said that it was likely the prize claim had occurred with a damaged ticket. This, it said, had taken place deliberately.
That jackpot payout stood at £2,525,485. It went unclaimed until right before the September 7 deadline in 2009. The Commission did not confirm how much Camelot had paid out. Yet it did state that the £3 million fine included money that good causes would have received. That would have happened if the prize wasn’t claimed.
In July of that year, Camelot paid out a £300,000 fine. This came about for putting the confidence of the public at risk. That followed the publication of inaccurate Lotto Millionaire Raffle results on the website. More than 100,000 people viewed the wrong results. That error took place on October 10, 2015. The Commission determined that Camelot had breached its operating licence in two areas.
The first of the other two fines were an £800,000 payment by Betfred. This consisted of a contribution towards socially responsible causes and compensation. That figure came about as part of a settlement with the UKGC following a licence review.
The other was a £32,000 fine imposed on two men. This included a penalty and legal costs to Kingston Council. It came about following a crackdown on illegal gambling at a private members club in London. The duo, Nicholas Clark and Luke Flack, ran an unlicensed casino and illegal poker tournaments. Prizes of up to £50,000 were on offer six times per week. Police raided the bar in December 2014 and uncovered the operation. Clark and Flack admitted the charges put against them, resulting in the fines.