Gambling Commission slaps £6m fine on Casumo
The British gambling regulator found that Casumo had breached anti-money laundering and social responsibility rules.
UK.- The Gambling Commission has issued a £6m fine to online gaming operator Casumo over or anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.
Its investigation found that Casumo allowed a player to lose £1.1m over three years without making any responsible gambling interactions to check that the player was gambling responsibly.
The British regulator identified four other cases in which players had lost significant sums without receiving any interactions, including a player who lost £89,000 in a five-hour period.
Provision 3.4.1 of the Gambling Commission’s Social Responsibility Code states that “licensees must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.”
Meanwhile, the commission also found that Casumo breached Licence Condition 12.1.1 by allowing customers to deposit large sums without AML checks.
It also found that source of funds checks were insufficient because payslips and invoices were not checked against bank statements.
The regulator has issued Casumo with an official warning and ordered it to undergo independent auditing to ensure it meets its licence conditions.
Casumo said the failings occurred between October 2019 and January 2020, when it was still in a “start-up phase” and that issues had been corrected.
CEO Shelly Suter-Hadad said: “Since joining Casumo last year, my focus has been on putting in place a new senior leadership team and Personal Management License holders with extremely strong industry experience and the knowledge and expertise to ensure we are a compliance-led business.
“In addition, recognising that key processes fell short in the past, I took immediate action to implement fundamental operational changes so that Casumo is now a gaming group with compliance and responsible gambling at the heart of its business and culture.”
Last week, the Gambling Commission fined In Touch Games £3.4m for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.
The Gambling Commission has been forced to defend its approach to the collapse of Football Index after criticism from the public and media over what’s been described as the biggest collapse in the history of British gambling.
