Grosvenor Casino Operators to Pay £5M over AML and Safer Gambling Failures

LONDON – Three Rank Group-owned casino operators will pay £5 million after UK regulators found AML and safer gambling failures across their businesses. The companies, which operate 51 casinos across Great Britain, must also undergo a third-party compliance audit.

The enforcement action covers Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited and Gaming Group Limited. The Gambling Commission said its investigation identified weaknesses in anti-money laundering controls and failures to intervene appropriately with customers showing signs of gambling harm.

UKGC Finds AML and Safer Gambling Failures

The anti-money laundering findings included failures to update policies following changes to the Money Laundering Regulations in 2020. The Commission also found that some policies allowed inconsistent treatment of customers considered to present elevated money laundering risks.

Other shortcomings involved unclear risk-assessment procedures, insufficient scrutiny of high-risk sources of funds and failures to carry out enhanced customer due diligence when the operators’ own policies required it.

The safer gambling findings included a customer who lost £50,000 without receiving an interaction from staff. In another case, the regulator found no record of safer gambling interactions with a customer who won approximately £260,000 before losing around £250,000 within 12 days.

A third customer returned after a period of self-exclusion and lost £25,000 before a safer gambling interaction took place, according to the Commission.

Rank Operators Must Undergo Third-Party Audit

Alongside the £5 million regulatory settlement, the three operators must undergo an independent audit examining whether their AML and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls are being implemented effectively.

All £5 million from the settlement will be directed to the UK Government’s Consolidated Fund. The action comes as the Commission continues to increase scrutiny of land-based operators as well as online gambling businesses.

“Larger enforcement cases are often associated with online gambling but, as today’s announcement shows, the risks of anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures are equally alive in the land-based sector.”

Sue Young
Executive Director of Operations, Gambling Commission

The case follows other recent enforcement involving customer-protection failures at land-based gambling venues. In August, the Commission fined Holland Park Leisure £150,000 over a self-exclusion breach at its adult gaming centre operations.

UKGC Continues Scrutiny of Player Protection

The settlement comes amid continued scrutiny of gambling harm and player-protection standards in Great Britain. In July, the Gambling Commission’s latest national survey estimated that around 1.3 million adults met the threshold for problem gambling.

The Commission said land-based operators should review the Grosvenor case carefully and ensure their own AML and safer gambling systems do not repeat the failures identified during its investigation.

RELATED TOPICS: Regulation