In addition, Platinum Gaming Limited, which operates unibet.co.uk, 32Red.com and uk.bingo.com, has been given a warning and will need to go through a third-party audit as a specific licence condition. This is to ensure that their anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures, and controls are being followed correctly.

Social responsibility failures included:

• Failed to identify a new player at risk after they lost £5,000 within 24 hours and over £16,000 in less than three months.
• Did not interact with a player who lost £31,000 in nine months, repeatedly hit loss limits, and showed clear signs of harm.
• Did not flag a player who exceeded a £2,500 loss limit within 16 minutes of registering or recognise binge gambling behaviour.
• Failed to interact with a customer who staked £73,000 and lost £4,100 over 23 days.

Anti-money laundering failures included:

• Risk assessment did not account for customers previously blocked for money laundering or terrorist financing concerns, allowing them to reopen accounts.
• AML policy lacked clarity on customer due diligence levels and how these were determined by risk.
• No evidence that high-risk factors (occupation, transaction levels, or losses) were properly considered during customer reviews.

Commission Director of Enforcement John Pierce stated, “While industry wide progress has been made in reducing unchecked high spending, the failings at Platinum Gaming are particularly disappointing”.

He also highlighted that the company displayed significant flaws in recognising and reacting to obvious signs of gambling harm, like customers losing substantial amounts shortly after signing up and consistently exceeding loss limits without any action taken. In addition, he flagged the serious shortcomings in AML practices, including gaps in risk assessments, clarity issues within due diligence procedures, and inconsistent evaluation of high-risk elements.

Lastly, he outlined the responsibility of senior leaders in regard to compliance stating, “senior leaders must take ownership of compliance outcomes and ensure lessons are embedded across the organisation, supported by structured reporting and board level oversight and further regulatory activity will remain a possibility”.

This is the second occasion Platinum Gaming have faced enforcement action in 2023 they were fined £2.9m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures as part of a larger fine also covering 32Red.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

• Review all current SG/AML policies and systems ensuring compliance with Gambling Commission standards, while confirming all staff are adequately trained to implement them effectively.
• Ensure individual indicators of harm are highlighted independently of any aggregate scores.
• Senior leaders should remain an active part of compliance within your organisation, supported by structured compliance reporting and regular reviews.
• Continue to strengthen customer interaction processes which identify and act on triggers related to harm especially for new or high spending customers. Use independent audit (required under MLR2017) to identify gaps proactively.

If you have any questions regarding AML or Social Responsibility compliance, or to book an independent audit with the UKs leading experts, please do not hesitate to Contact Us.

Read the commissions release here