The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has issued Bet365 a penalty of £582.120 for anti-money laundering failures and for not following social responsibility protocols.
Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC, which holds a licence for Bet365’s bingo and casino products, will pay £343,035 and Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, which holds a licence to offer betting, will pay £239,085.
The overall figure will go towards social responsibility causes as part of the regulatory settlement.
A compliance assessment conducted by the Commission back in March 2022 found:
Social responsibility failures:
Interactions with customers were frequently not tailored to the specific customer journey or spectrum of harm, and therefore interactions were not meaningful
An early Risk Detection System was not demonstrably effective in understanding the impact of individual interactions on a customer’s behaviour and whether further action was required
Its approach to evaluation meant that it was unable to effectively ascertain whether a customer had read and understood the information or advice provided within its interactions.
Anti-money laundering failures:
Having enhanced customer due diligence and know your customer (KYC) triggers that were ineffective at managing money laundering risk
Failing to undertake financial sanctions checks on new customers prior to their first deposits
Failing to undertake independent verification checks and over-relied on customers’ annual self-verification of know your customer information, such as identification documents.
Its procedure document provided inadequate detail about who would be deemed “at risk” and “not at risk” for customer risk profiling.
Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations, said: “The policy and procedural failings may not have been as severe as those at other gambling businesses in recent years, but they were failings, nonetheless.
“We expect high standards from operators in terms of keeping gambling safe, fair and crime-free, and will always take action to correct any failings. This operator is aware that repeating these failings will result in escalating regulatory action.”