The UK Gambling Commission regulates all kinds of gambling activities in Britain. Its scope includes keeping a strict watch on all the casinos, land-based as well as online, forcing them to observe all the relevant rules and procedures, and punishing errant casinos to make gambling a safe activity. According to a recent news report, the UKGC has fined Caesar Casinos a whopping 13 million GBP for failing to stop money laundering and allowing problem gamblers to keep playing.
In April 2020 two operators was suspended for not implementing Gamstop properly. The UK casinos offering slots not on Gamstop can do so because they do not have a UK-license or directing their websites towards UK-players, but the casinos is however open to Brits.
Serious errors by the Caesar management
The UKGC told the British media that the casino allowed a self-employed nanny to keep playing even after she had lost nearly 18,000 GBP that constituted her life-long savings. This lady had been borrowing money from others to feed her gambling addiction. Caesars Entertainment also let a customer keep playing who had lost 323,000 GBP on different games. Not only that, but this casino failed to track the funding sources of some very high rollers.
Customer safety first and foremost
Speaking on this fine, Neil McArthur, CEO of UKGC told the media that it is very serious on matters related to customer safety. In the case of Caesars Entertainment, there was a clear breach of UKGC’s guidelines. The casino did not check whether some players could afford to gamble at all. Secondly, Caesars failed to investigate the funding sources of some players one of whom lost GBP 1.6 million in just 3 months. Apparently, it was a case of money laundering.
Betway fined 11.6 million GBP
A few years ago, the UKGC had slapped gambling firm Betway with an 11.6 million GBP fine. The regulator said Betway had failed check money laundering by some of its customers. For instance, one customer deposited 8 million GBP and lost half of that amount over four years. The regulator also charged Betway of not interacting with a customer who deposited and lost 187,000 GBP in just two days. These two activities pointed toward money laundering.
‘Proceeds of Crime’
The UKGC also hinted that ‘proceeds of crime’ might have flowed through the channels of Betway. The regulators say it detected nearly 5 million GBP that went out of the Betway system because of a lack of checks on some customers’ funds and their money sources. Richard Watson, Executive Director of UKGC told reporters that this casino did not exercise sufficient oversight on its VIP players and those around them. You can read more here.
Daub Alderney fined 7.1 million GBP
In the past, the UKGC has also fined online gambling firm Daub Alderney nearly 7.1 million GBP for failing to check money laundering and other illegal activities. This penalty also extended to Alderney’s failure to stop problem gamblers from keeping on playing. It is the responsibility of any casino, online or offline, to deter suspected gambling addicts from playing for long hours. Speaking about this fine, Daub Alderney told reporters that it had appointed Deloitte to assess its responsible gambling procedures.
William Hill fined 3 million GBP
As early as February 2020, gambling major William Hill was fined 3 million GBP by the Gambling Commission for failing to protect ‘gambling addicts’. The regulator said the offending site did not have adequate measures to check the legitimate sources of revenue of its customers. In one case, William Hill accepted a 10-year-old claims document and allowed the customer to deposit 1 million GBP. This document showed that the customer has received 176,000 GBP as a legitimate payout.
In another case, William Hill failed to freeze the account of a customer who won 50,000 GBP but gambled all this money away before depositing more money. This was the ninth company to be penalized by the UKGC for failing to comply with the latter’s rules and regulations. Most of the funds collected as fines by the Gambling Commission go toward educating players on safe and responsible gambling practices. If you think a casino is violating these practices, contact the Gambling Commission.
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