SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has ordered White Hat Gaming to pay a £1.3 million regulatory settlement after an investigation identified ‘inadequate anti-money laundering and social responsibility procedures’.
The operator’s payment has been made ‘in lieu of a financial penalty’ and will be directed towards delivering the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
In a statement, the UKGC stated that its assessment looked into the handling of seven customers’ accounts with the operator after concerns were raised at a compliance assessment in March 2019.
The regulator revealed that it had identified failings in the way White Hat Gaming identified and managed customers who were at higher risk of money laundering and problem gambling’.
This related to three cases when the operator had not established the source of funds for a customer who lost £70,000 in three months, ineffective interaction with both a second customer who lost £50,000 in just six hours, and a third customer who lost £85,000 in just over one hour.
The failures occurred on the operator’s www.grandivy.com, www.21casino.com, www.hellocasino.com and www.dreamvegas.com websites.
Richard Watson, UKGC Executive Director, said: “Through our tough compliance and enforcement activity we will continue our work to raise standards in the industry and continue to hold failing operators to account.”
Following the investigation, the online operator has committed to making improvements to both its policies and procedures as part of an ongoing programme in collaboration with the UKGC.
These improvements include the automated prevention of more spending once limits are hit, an increase in safer gambling customer interactions, more robust source of funds checks and regular reviews of anti-money laundering controls and processes.
