TonyBet fined by UKGC for unfair terms and AML failings

The UK Gambling Commission has fined TonyBet £442,750.

UK.- TonyBet will pay a £442,750 penalty and receive a warning for failing to have fair and transparent terms, and for failing to follow social responsibility and anti-money laundering rules, according to a statement released by the British Gambling Commission.

The operator – which runs tonybet.co.uk – will also have to undergo a third-party audit to assess whether it is effectively implementing anti-money laundering (AML) and social responsibility requirements.

The UKGC revealed unfair terms published on TonyBet’s website included: 

• TonyBet may request identification documents for ‘all withdrawals’ while not having insisted on those same checks earlier in the business relationship, potentially hampering withdrawals but not deposits.
• Winnings could be confiscated where consumers failed to provide AML documentation within 30 days.
• Accounts are considered dormant after six months of inactivity when accounts can only be considered dormant after 12 months of inactivity.

Social responsibility failures included not identifying customers who may be at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling and failing to interact with customers who may be at risk of experiencing harms associated with gambling.

Anti-money laundering failures included failing to conduct adequate risk assessments of the business being used for money laundering and terrorist financing and failing to ensure they had appropriate policies, procedures and controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Kay Roberts, executive director of operations at the British regulator, said: “Not only does this case illustrate our drive to clamp down on anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures, but also highlights action we will take against gambling businesses who fail to be fair and open with customers.”

The ruling comes after the Commission this week also ordered Vivaro Limited – trading as Vbet – to pay a £337,631 regulatory settlement over AML and player protection failings.

See also: Review in the UK estimates cost of gambling harm at +£1bn