British Gambling Commission warns over money laundering risks in gaming sectors

The regulator has updated its money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.

UK.- The Gambling Commission has published an update to its Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing risk assessment. The update is based on the reporting period from June 2020 to March 2023, with the previous assessment having been published in 2020.

Intended as a resource for gambling operators, the document sets out the money laundering and terrorist financing threats in the sector. All licensees are mandated to ensure the effective implementation of AML policies, procedures and controls.

The assessment notes that the overall level of the money laundering threat in the gambling sector remains low, but it indicates variations in different types of gaming activities. Remote casino, betting, and bingo are considered to have a high risk level while the National Lottery continues to be considered low risk

However, when it comes to terrorist financing, the overall risk level has been raised from low to medium. The regulator says this follows collaboration with counter-terrorism experts.

The Gambling Commission has also introduced new risk considerations. It has deemed the risk of organised criminal gangs passing as customers as a high-risk factor. It also identified risk in the exploitation of vulnerable people’s gambling accounts for disrupting financial trails and failures to implement a closed-loop system. Other high-risk activities identified were surfing (passing large amounts of cash in multiple small transactions) and peer-to-peer betting.

British Gambling Commission launches new reporting service

Meanhile, the Gambling Commission has launched an anonymous online reporting service that people can use to report suspicious activity to the regulator. It said that people can use the “Tell us something in confidence” service to share information or suspicions about unlicensed gambling, match-fixing and betting integrity, underage gambling, money laundering or other criminal activity.

The service allows users to upload supporting materials including documents and photos. More information can be sent by email or mail. Users only need to share contact details if they want the regulator to contact them with regard to the case.

Last week, the Gambling Commission opened its second round of consultations following the publication of the UK government’s gambling review white paper in April. It’s consulting on five areas for a period of 12 weeks, up until February 21, 2024.