bet365 Agree to Pay for Social Responsibility and Anti-Money Laundering Failures
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has reached an agreement with bet365 that will see the operator pay £582,120 due to failures relating to anti-money laundering and social responsibility.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:The money will be paid by Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC, which is the license holder for bet365’s bingo and casino offering, and Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, which is the license holder for sports betting. They will pay £343,035 and £239,085, respectively.
The operator reached a settlement with the UKGC, which means that the money paid will go towards funding socially responsible causes. Had the UKGC issued a fine, then the funds would have gone to HM Treasury.
Failings Date from March 2022
The UKGC carried out a compliance assessment in March 2022 and found a number of failings. In regards to social responsibility, it was found that interactions with customers were often not customized to the specific customer journey or spectrum of harm, rendering them ineffective.
Furthermore, it was found that an Early Risk Detection System was not effective when it came to analyzing the effect of individual interactions on a player’s behavior and determining whether further steps should be taken. Therefore, it was determined that bet365 was unable to reliably judge whether a customer had read and grasped the advice contained within interactions.
There were also a number of anti-money laundering failures. For instance, it was found that the enhanced customer due diligence and Know Your Customer (KYC) triggers were not effective at assessing the risk of money laundering. Furthermore, the operator did not conduct financial sanctions checks on new customers before they made a first deposit.
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The UKGC also judged that bet365 did not conduct independent verification checks but instead relied too heavily on customers’ yearly self-verification of KYC information. Finally, it was also deemed that bet365’s procedure document did not contain enough details distinguishing which customers would be considered “at risk” and “not at risk”.
Threat of Further Regulatory Action
The Executive Director of Operations at the UKGC, Kay Roberts, warned that while bet365’s failings were not the worst seen in recent times, they must still be rectified.
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 very aware that a repeat of these failings will result in escalating regulatory action.
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