Compliance Updates
UKGC Imposes £6M Penalty on Gamesys for Social Responsibility and AML Failures
A gambling business will pay a £6 million penalty after a Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) failings.
Gamesys Operations Limited – which operates 16 websites including ballycasino.co.uk, doublebubblebingo.com, jackpotjoy.com and megawayscasino.com – will also have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls.
The failures were revealed during a Commission compliance assessment in May 2022.
Social responsibility failures included:
- not always identifying customers at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling by:
- placing inappropriate reliance on checks which indicate whether a customer had a historical individual voluntary arrangement or been bankrupt or insolvent as a sign of gambling harm
- having a system of deposit limits which, for some customers, did not identify risks of harm quickly enough – no risks were identified when one customer deposited £8255 within three days of opening an account, another lost £5968 within five weeks of opening an account and another lost £17,482 within 34 days of opening an account
- not always interacting with customers who may be at risk of or experiencing harms associated with gambling. Examples include:
- only interacting with one customer once they had lost almost £10,000, and that “responsible gambling interaction” involved the recommendation of new games and promotions
- carrying out only one responsible gambling interaction with a consumer who lost £19,709 over five months
- records of interactions, considerations and rationale for decisions were not always recorded in sufficient detail, despite this being specified in the Licensee’s responsible gambling procedures.
Anti-money laundering failures included:
- in certain circumstances, some customers were able to evade some of the Licensee’s AML triggers/thresholds and go on to spend significant sums without AML checks being conducted – one customer deposited £14,585 in a 28 week period, another deposited £18,884 in just over six months and another deposited £34,280 in five and a half months
- conducting inadequate customer due diligence and being over-reliant on third party information (such as internet research) or the customer’s verbal assurances for a number of customers, including one who deposited over £25,000 in three months, another who deposited over £58,000 in six months, and another who deposited over £65,000 in six months
- having a “Reinvestment of winnings policy” which was insufficient to mitigate the risk that deposited funds could be from illegitimate sources and not just from previous winnings.
Kay Roberts, Executive Director of Operations at UKGC, said: “Our focus as a regulator is to ensure that operators are employing policies and procedures which make gambling fair, safe and crime-free. We take this responsibility extremely seriously and whenever we find failures in policies and procedures then the business can expect significant regulatory action.”
Compliance Updates
BetComply brings ComplyCheck to the UK and beyond with major update
BetComply, iGaming’s most trusted technical and regulatory compliance firm, has expanded the coverage of its ComplyCheck tool to the UK, with even more new markets to follow.
ComplyCheck launched earlier this year as a new self-assessment / audit hybrid designed to help licence holders in the Netherlands navigate increasingly complex requirements.
The tool has proven so successful that partners have called for it to cover other regulated markets. BetComply has responded by adding the UK, with Ontario and Estonia to follow shortly. There are plans to roll out many more jurisdictions for ComplyCheck, starting with MGA and Curacao licences in early 2025.
Mike de Graaff, Chief Compliance Officer at BetComply, said: “When we launched ComplyCheck, it was a completely new approach designed to simplify licensing audits for operators. It’s been so popular in the Netherlands, we’ve prioritised bringing the service to new markers, starting with the UK. We’ve designed ComplyCheck to provide greater clarity to operators, making the audit process more efficient without compromising on the all important details. We couldn’t be more excited to see our partners using the tool in these new markets.”
ComplyCheck, which is powered by SG Certified, guides operators through the licensing process in two stages. Firstly, the tool presents operators with a simple set of questions they can complete and substantiate with evidence in their own time.
These responses are then analysed by BetComply’s team of regulatory experts, who reply with a full report highlighting any gaps where the operator may not be compliant.
Compliance Updates
Enteractive Appoints Lukasz Zebrowski as Head of Compliance
Enteractive, a global leader in player reactivation and retention solutions, has appointed Lukasz Zebrowski as its new Head of Compliance. Lukasz brings vast experience in regulatory compliance and will play a crucial role in ensuring Enteractive’s services continue to offer excellence on every level when talking directly with the players.
Andrew Foster, Chief Business Development Officer at Enteractive, stated: “Lukasz’s expertise in navigating complex regulatory landscapes will strengthen our compliance efforts, helping us deliver even greater value to our clients across diverse jurisdictions. His leadership will ensure we maintain the highest standards in responsible gambling and fraud detection, reinforcing our commitment to safeguarding operators and their players.”
Enteractive views this role as essential to delivering top-tier service to operators globally. As regulations evolve, having strong compliance leadership allows Enteractive to provide safe, responsible, and effective reactivation services tailored to the unique regulatory requirements in each market. This ensures that operators can focus on their core business while trusting Enteractive to handle outreach to operators’ lost audience segments with compliance excellence front of mind.
Lukasz Zebrowski added, “At Enteractive, my focus will be on aligning our services with the highest industry standards, ensuring regulatory alignment in all the markets we operate in. We are dedicated to maintaining a compliance-first approach, particularly in player protection and fraud prevention, with comprehensive training programs to uphold these values at every level.”
This appointment further solidifies Enteractive’s position as a trusted partner in the iGaming industry, offering operators peace of mind when it comes to ensuring all customer communications are compliant with regulatory challenges in each market. The company remains committed to excellence, ensuring the highest levels of service and compliance across all operations.
Compliance Updates
Dutch Regulator Reprimands Operators Over Sponsorship Violations
The Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has reprimanded three providers for incidents involving sponsorship. Since 1 July 2024, there have been new rules regarding sponsorship. This means that sponsoring television programmes and events is no longer permitted. Until 1 July 2025, only sports sponsorship is permitted, after that it will no longer be permitted.
In sports sponsorship, providers may not target vulnerable groups, including minors and young adults. It is the responsibility of the gambling provider to adhere to these rules at all times, even if third parties are involved in the sponsorship. The Ksa saw this go wrong several times.
Incidents
One provider had a sponsorship contract with an organiser of a national event in the past. Despite the fact that this agreement had expired, the organisation continued to use the promotional materials that contained the provider’s name, while this was no longer allowed after July 1. After the warning from the KSA, the provider immediately had its logo removed from the promotional materials.
A second provider also went wrong in agreements with a third party. The provider sponsored a major sporting event. In the run-up to the tournament, children and young adults played sports at the location. As a result, the provider’s advertising expressions were also visible outside the sporting events, and moreover by a vulnerable target group. The KSA emphasised again that the provider itself is responsible for the sponsorship expressions and their visibility and should therefore have been alert to the fact that these were also visible outside the tournament.
The third provider had an issue in a sports webshop: T-shirts of a famous athlete were sold there with the provider’s logo on them, as shirt sponsor. These shirts were also available in children’s sizes, which meant the advertising was aimed at a vulnerable target group, which is not permitted. The provider took immediate action to ensure that the children’s sizes no longer carried the provider’s logo.
In these three cases, the KSA has once again explained the rules regarding sponsoring to the providers. In the event of a subsequent violation, the KSA may take enforcement action. It is up to the provider to make clear agreements with external parties. This includes the use of sponsor materials, the time at which sponsor messages are shown and the way in which they are distributed. In addition, it is also up to the provider to ensure that external parties adhere to these agreements.
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