Compliance Updates
UKGC Imposes £6.1M Fine on Online Operator In Touch Games
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has imposed a fine of £6.1 million on In Touch Games (ITG) for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Social responsibility failures included:
- Not interacting with a customer until seven weeks after they had been flagged for interaction for erratic play patterns and extended periods of play.
- Accepting a customer’s word that they earned £6000 a month without verifying this information after the customer account was flagged due to customer spend and gambling during unsociable hours.
Anti-money laundering failures included:
- Not adequately taking account of the risk of a customer being a beneficiary of a life insurance policy; having links to high-risk jurisdictions; or being a politically exposed person (PEP), family member of a PEP or known close associates of a PEP, within its money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.
- Not having policies, procedures and controls in place to address the risk factors mentioned above.
- Not sufficiently considering the Commission’s money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment or the Commission’s guidance.
- Not ensuring its policies, procedures and controls were implemented effectively, for example not following its own policy to request source of funds information from customers who had deposited and lost £10,000 in a 12-month period.
This is the third time ITG have faced regulatory action – in 2019 it paid a £2.2m settlement for regulatory failures and in 2021 it received a £3.4m fine and warning for further failures.
Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at UKGC, said: “Considering this operator’s history of failings we expected to see significant improvement when we carried out our planned compliance assessment. Disappointingly, although many improvements had been made, there was still more to do.
“This £6.1m fine shows that we will take escalating enforcement action where failures are repeated and all licensees should be acutely aware of this.”
Compliance Updates
Compliable Expands Licensing Offering to Europe and Latin America
Leading licensing management solution now supports new global markets
Leading compliance software provider Compliable is now supporting licensing in European and Latin American markets, further strengthening its proposition following a successful period of growth in the United States.
With experience of working with prominent industry brands including FanDuel, Bet365 and BetFanatics in North America, Compliable’s platform can now help companies complete, manage and maintain gaming licenses across multiple global jurisdictions.
Compliable is expanding into new markets at a time of increased regulatory obligations in numerous regions as well as a heightened demand from suppliers and vendors to get licensed from a reputational point of view.
Markets in Europe as well as emerging regions in Latin America are now supported by Compliable’s software solution, which enables operators and suppliers to enter new countries more quickly and reduces the ongoing burden of regulatory requirements.
Compliable’s software platform and tools provide customers both significant time and cost savings, as employees enter key information just once in the licensing process with the information then auto-populated across multiple forms, generating error-free applications every time.
The solution cuts the time it takes to get employees licensed by 90% to less than an hour, which has led to an increase of up to 700% in the number of employees that can be onboarded.
“Following discussions with our customers and prospects, it became clear that there is a demand for our market-leading licensing management solution outside of the United States and we are pleased to now be able to streamline the licensing process for even more companies in additional jurisdictions,” the Chief Executive Officer for Compliable, Chris Oltyan, said. “Licensing compliance can slow down your ability to expand into new markets but it doesn’t have to. Using our platform to remove bottlenecks in the acquisition and management of licenses frees up time and attention so our customers can focus on their go to market plans.”
Compliance Updates
ITIA: Croatian Official Suspended from Tennis
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that Croatian tennis official Marko Stojanovic has been suspended from the sport for five years and six months after admitting to breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP).
Stojanovic, a national-level official, admitted to 15 breaches of the TACP, including manipulating data from matches in which they were an official to facilitate betting.
Stojanovic, who is accredited at national level and has officiated at ITF tournaments, co-operated fully with the ITIA investigation and accepted an agreed sanction, waiving their right to a hearing before an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer. Stojanovic has also been fined $25,000, of which $18,750 is suspended.
The official’s agreed sanction began on 19 February 2024 and will end at midnight on 18 August 2029.
During the suspension, Stojanovic is prohibited from officiating at, or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Fédération Française de Tennis, Wimbledon and USTA).
The ITIA is an independent body established by its tennis members to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.
Compliance Updates
MGA Successfully Hosts its First Sports Betting Integrity Conference
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has hosted its first Sports Betting Integrity Conference, further cementing the Authority’s dedication to fostering open dialogue, knowledge-sharing and maintaining a gaming landscape that is free from corruption and any form of unethical practices.
The event convened high-profile stakeholders integral to the sports betting integrity sector, including the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the eSports Integrity Commission (ESIC), Genius Sports and Sportradar.
Local stakeholders included the Malta Police Force, the Malta Football Association (MFA), the Authority for Integrity in Maltese Sports and the Office of the Attorney General.
Opening the conference, MGA CEO Charles Mizzi said: “As the MGA, ensuring the integrity of sports betting is not merely a regulatory obligation; it is a cornerstone of our commitment to fostering a fair and sustainable gaming environment.”
Mr Mizzi emphasised that the conference’s foremost objective was that of leading a united effort in addressing the complex challenges of maintaining integrity within sports and sports betting. As the industry continues to transform – introducing new technologies and increasingly sophisticated methods – success depends on the ability to share knowledge, experiences and best practices. Through this synergy, stakeholders can outpace those intent on corrupting the essence of sports and betting.
Such gatherings, therefore, serve as invaluable opportunities to pool resources and expertise, serving as catalysts for positive change. The Authority extends its gratitude to all attendees for their engagement and participation.
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