Gambling Commission fines for AML failings

The Gambling Commission has fined Betway £11,6m for a series of “social responsibility” and money laundering failings linked to 7 VIP customers.

The Gambling Commission found that:

• generally, because the firm did not properly consider affordability issues nor carry out source of funds checks, it allowed £5,8m to flow through the business which has either been found or could reasonably be suspected to be the proceeds of crime;
• in one case, there was no source of funds check on a customer who deposited over £8m and lost over £4m over a 4-year period.

Getting firms to improve how they manage high value customers is a significant piece of the Commission’s current work on making gambling safer.