Hot on the heels of two other large fines, the Gambling Commission has warned Britain’s gambling industry that it will “use all tools at its disposal to ensure consumer safety”.  This warning comes after enforcement action involving suspending an online casino from operating and then fining it £3.8million.

Genesis Global Limited runs 14 websites.  It was suspended from operating in Britain after enquiries revealed significant social responsibility and money laundering failures. Three months later, the suspension was lifted, following significant compliance improvements. However, the Commission’s investigation continued and it has now levied the fine, given a warning and told it that it must undergo further extensive auditing.

Social responsibility failures included:

• not carrying out any meaningful responsible gambling interactions with, or placing any effective restrictions on the account of, a customer who spent £245,000 in three months.
• not carrying out any meaningful responsible gambling interactions or establishing affordability of a customer who lost £197,000 over six months.
• not carrying out any meaningful responsible gambling interactions or establishing affordability of a customer who lost £234,000 in a six week period.

Money laundering failures included:

• requested source of funds only after one customer had lost £209,000. Before this, Genesis had estimated the customer was earning £111,000 a year because the consumer had told them they were a director and this was the average salary of directors in London. The operator failed to take into account the company was dormant and that there would be a wide range of director salaries. Genesis also failed to verify information supplied by the customer to substantiate the level of spend.
• a customer was allowed to deposit over £1,300,000 and lose £600,000 before carrying out sufficient source of funds checks. The customer provided Genesis with documentation including a bank statement which showed deposits into the account to the value of £23,000 and payments out to the value of £27,000 – clearly not enough to support the level of gambling.
• a customer was allowed to lose £107,000 over six months without carrying out sufficient source of funds checks. Genesis relied on assertion that the customer’s money came from an allowance from parents who owned factories overseas and failed to verify this information. The customer provided a number of bank statements. However, they did not provide evidence about any source of income but did show transactions with other gambling operators.

Gambling operators need to ensure that they follow the correct processes to avoid breaching licence conditions. Mistakes can be extremely costly!