UKGC alerts industry stakeholders of new money laundering & financial regulations

The UK Gambling Commission has alerted industry stakeholders to new regulations implemented on money laundering and financial transfers by the UK Government.

This week the UK Government published the “The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017”, with new EU-wide regulations set to come into effect from 26 June.

The new publication is set to replace the previous ‘Money Laundering 2007’ regulations, following the consultation from the EU 4th Money Laundering Directive.

The UKGC has warned all gambling operators (digital and land-based) to review the document and to understand new requirements that need to be implemented by stakeholders at an industry level.

Issuing a note, the UKGC states that operators must fulfill, the following duties and benchmarks

• Operators still have other duties to prevent money laundering under the Gambling Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, and the LCCP
• there is a clear need to further raise standards across the industry
• the government has warned it has the power to include other sectors within the new Money Laundering Regulations at a later date if those sectors are assessed as being higher risk.

Richard Watson, UKGC Programme Director commented on the update: “We welcome the new Regulations, which supports our licensing objective of keeping gambling crime free.

“We are currently in the process of revising our anti-money laundering guidance to reflect the new Regulations – operators are reminded they need to take their anti-money laundering responsibilities seriously and implement the necessary changes.”