The UK Gaming Commission unveiled its 2020/21 Compliance and Enforcement Report, spotlighting deficiencies in anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility procedures during the previous year.
The regulatory body indicated that these shortcomings might have stemmed from prioritizing financial gains over adherence to regulations.
“The justifications for these failures are nearly as worrisome as the failures themselves,” it stated. “Our investigations reveal that operators have either neglected to provide sufficient resources or have simply placed commercial goals above regulatory ones. This is entirely unacceptable, and others within the industry who are dedicated to compliance would concur.”
The report observed that a lack of due diligence was a primary contributor to AML and CFT shortcomings.
This encompassed the absence of proper due diligence measures from the outset, the failure to implement due diligence where it was warranted, and an excessive reliance on third parties for due diligence.
Moreover, numerous operators had review thresholds that were excessively high and were based on singular indicators rather than a more comprehensive perspective.
A significant number of operators have been identified as using inadequate risk assessment procedures when it comes to preventing money laundering and financing terrorism. They have also failed to consider the connection between problem gambling and these issues.
The committee referenced various incidents from the past year that involved insufficient checks. This includes the £6 million penalty imposed on Casumo in March, following a player’s loss of £1.1 million without any responsible gambling interactions.
The committee also emphasized other instances where anti-money laundering practices were disregarded.
These examples include a customer depositing £20,000 in cash on two separate occasions while providing fraudulent identification, another customer attempting to present a sealed package of cash at a casino while claiming it originated from a different operator, and a member of an organized crime syndicate utilizing funds from cybercrime at a high-end casino.
The report also expressed concern that operators are more preoccupied with the negative media repercussions of violating social responsibility guidelines than they are with mitigating money laundering and terrorism financing risks initially.
The report reminds licensees that they must fully adhere to their license terms, “particularly in relation to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF).”
Gaming house administrators are required to adhere to stringent regulations to hinder illicit financial transactions and the funding of terrorism. These guidelines are detailed in the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on Payer) Regulations of 2017, which were revised in 2020 and 2021.
Supervisory bodies have observed that numerous gaming houses are neglecting to adequately assess their vulnerabilities and are not taking sufficient measures to prevent money laundering. This includes neglecting to properly verify the identities of their patrons, which facilitates the use of casinos by criminals to conceal their funds.
Earlier this year, several gaming houses were penalized for failing to comply with these rules. This demonstrates that regulatory authorities are committed to enforcing these regulations.