SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has taken regulatory action against Maltese igaming and sportsbook services operator Casumo, issuing fines totalling £6 million having uncovered a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.
Following an audit of Casumo activities between October 2019 and 8 January 2020, the Commission found that the operator had failed to put into effect policies and procedures on customer care interventions
Social responsibility failings led to a Casumo customer losing £1.1 million over a period of three years – ‘without being subject to responsible gambling interactions’.
Further discrepancies saw a customer lose £65,000 within a month and another customer lose £76,000 over a seven-month period – with no player subjected to any form of customer care interventions.
The Commission further explained that Casumo failings had led to a customer losing £89,000 in a five-hour period and another incident of a customer who lost £59,000 within a 90-minute session.
Casumo has been further charged with multiple failures on its customer AML duties with regards to referencing appropriate Source of Funds (SOF) checks.
The UKGC stated that SOF checks were insufficient, as Casumo showed ‘No assessment or limit’ as to how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on known income, wealth or any other risk factors.
Furthermore, the Commission deemed that the operator had not demonstrated that any required AML policies, procedures and controls were implemented effectively.
Richard Watson, Commission Executive Director, said: “This case was brought about through planned compliance activity and every operator out there should be aware that we will continue to take firm action against those who fail to raise standards.”
Responding to the penalty, Casumo said that it had cooperated fully with the UKGC on the in-depth review of its compliance-related gambling procedures, which commenced under the previous management team.
The company also underlined that the failings took place in the context of the ‘hyper growth Casumo experienced during its start-up phase’.
The operator has moved to address its historic issues through steps implemented by new CEO Shelly Suter-Hadad, who was appointed for her experience in building compliance-led gaming groups and has held operational control since January 2020.
“Since joining Casumo last year, my focus has been on putting in place a new senior leadership team and Personal Management License holders with extremely strong industry experience and the knowledge and expertise to ensure we are a compliance-led business,” Suter-Hadad commented.
“In addition, recognising that key processes fell short in the past, I took immediate action to implement fundamental operational changes so that Casumo is now a gaming group with compliance and responsible gambling at the heart of its business and culture. These efforts, together with our full collaboration, have been formally recognised multiple times by the Commission.”
