UKGC hits Star Sports with £594,000 sanction for responsibility failings

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has penalised Star Racing Limited, the operating company of the Star Sports betting brand, £594,000 for anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings. 

This morning, the Commission notified that it has summoned an official warning on Star Racing, which will have further conditions applied to its licence operating Star Sports in the UK.

The filing cited AML failures related to ineffective policies, procedures, and controls, taking place between March 2020 to May 2021.

Star Sports is reported to have allowed customers to deposit large amounts without obtaining source of funds (SOF) information and failed to analyse the information when it was obtained.

The operator’s social responsibility failings involved “not demonstrating an understanding of customer interactions’ impact and effectiveness in terms of reducing customer risk”.

Concluding its investigation, the Commission deemed Star Racing Limited in breach of specific licensing conditions and social responsibility codes.

The Commission’s decision to impose the financial penalty, and attach additional conditions to the license, was made in line with the UK gambling’s regulatory policy and principles.

Last week, the Commission informed stakeholders that it would publish the first series of consultations of the Gambling Review’s White Paper this July.

As such, the UKGC is expected to publish four consultations on regulatory outcomes related to age verification, remote games design, direct marketing and cross-selling, and financial risk and vulnerability checks.