Gambling Commission fines In Touch Games £3.4m
The British regulator has fined the online casino operator for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.
UK.- The Gambling Commission has fined online casino operator In Touch Games £3.4m for a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.
The British regulator has also ordered the operator to undergo extensive auditing by an independent auditor after finding that it breached the Gambling Commission’s Social Responsibility Code (SRCP) and Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
It found that In Touch Games had failed to implement interaction policies and procedures for seven customers in spite of noting indications of potential problem gambling.
The operator was also found to have failed to use all relevant sources of information to ensure effective decision making with regards to the same customers. The regulator said that In Touch should have given more consideration to limiting the seven customers’ deposits.
Anti-money laundering failings
The regulator also found In Touch’s anti-money laundering risk assessments failed to take into account risks associated with a payment provider that acts as a cryptocurrency exchange.
On top of that, the commission said the operator failed to conduct enhanced due diligence checks and to critically evaluate information on the sources of players’ funds.
It also criticised an SMS marketing message for breaching rules on transparency since it failed to state minimum and maximum deposits or time limits for a bonus offer.
Richard Watson, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said: “Through our challenging compliance and enforcement activity we will continue our work to raise standards in the industry and continue to hold failing operators to account.”
The Gambling Commission has come in for criticism this week following the collapse of the trading platform Football Index.
The regulator also announced the unexpected departure of chief executive Neil McArthur earlier in the week. He’s been replaced by deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner and chief operating officer Sally Jones on an interim basis.
