The UK’s gaming authority, the Gambling Commission, holds the responsibility of regulating all gambling activities within the country. It diligently oversees the market in its bid to ensure that the licensed operators maintain adherence to the set games rules and the legal requirements of their licenses. Whenever a breach is discovered, the Commission fulfills its regulatory function by levying penalties. Such an incidence recently occurred with Gamesys Operations Limited.
According to the information shared by the Gambling Commission on Wednesday, the operator was fined £6 million, equivalent to $7.6 million, as a financial penalty. This substantial fine was the fallout of an investigation by the regulator, which detected infractions by Gamesys related to anti-money laundering (AML) and norms on social responsibility.
The Gambling Commission revealed that the infractions were identified during a regulatory review which dated back to May 2022. The gaming watchdog elaborated that the violations regarding AML and social responsibility took place from November 2021 to July 2022. Alongside the mammoth penalty, Gamesys is also obligated to ensure its adherence to the AML and safer gaming standards and submit to an external audit.
Kay Roberts, the Commission’s Executive Director, disclosed that the regulator’s ongoing focus is to ensure licensed gambling operators abide by the stipulated regulations. She further emphasized that gambling businesses should provide safe and fair betting services that are void of any illegitimate activities. “Thoroughness is the essence of our duty, and any discovered failures in policy and procedures will inevitably invite substantial regulatory action,” Roberts pertinently summed up.
The Gaming Regulator Explains the Violations
In detailing Gamesys’ violations, the Commission disclosed that some patrons managed to dodge the operator’s AML triggers. This laxity allowed certain players to splurge a significant amount of money without the imperative AML checks being conducted. The gaming regulator cited instances like a client who deposited £34,280 ($43,600) over a span of five and half months, whereas another managed to deposit £18,884 ($24,000) within six months.
The operator’s additional AML contraventions were related to their customer due diligence measures. The Commission pointed out that, in certain instances, Gamesys carried out “insufficient customer due diligence” and excessively relied on information from third parties or verbal confirmations from customers.
Apart from the AML violations, the Commission also spotted failures in social responsibility on part of Gamesys. The gaming regulator disclosed Gamesys did not always identify customers who could potentially be susceptible to gambling harm. To illustrate, the Commission pointed out that the operator’s deposit limit system did not promptly identify the risk of gambling harm, leading to a patron losing over £17,482 ($22,300) within a month of opening an account, while another lost £5,968 ($7,600) just five weeks after account creation.
The Commission also detected other social responsibility lapses in the form of inadequate interaction with customers possibly dealing with gambling harm. The Commission gave the instance of one Gamesys customer, who suffered a loss of nearly £10,000 ($12,700). Even though the operator did reach out to the patron, the purported “responsible gambling interaction” merely involved promoting new game offerings and deals, according to the Commission.
