UKGC sets fine for bookmaker
The UK Gambling Commission has set a fine for William Hill Group.
UK.- The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGK) resolved to fine powerful bookmaker William Hill due to “systemic senior management failure to protect consumers and prevent money laundering.” The penalty, which was revealed yesterday, has been set on a package of at least £6.2 million, according to local press.
A UKGC investigation revealed that between November 2014 and August 2016 the gambling business breached anti-money laundering and social responsibility regulations. Senior management failed to mitigate risks and have sufficient numbers of staff to ensure their anti-money laundering and social responsibility processes were effective. This resulted in ten customers being allowed to deposit large sums of money linked to criminal offenses which resulted in gains for WHG of around £1.2 million. WHG did not adequately seek information about the source of their funds or establish whether they were problem gamblers.
WHG will pay more than £5 million for breaching regulations and divest themselves of the £1.2 million they earned from transactions with the ten customers. Where victims of the ten customers are identified, they will be reimbursed. If further incidents of failures relating to this case emerge, WHG will divest any money made from these transactions.
WHG will also appoint external auditors to review the effectiveness and implementation of its anti-money-laundering and social responsibility policies and procedures and share learning with the wider industry.
Neil McArthur, Executive Director, said, “We will use the full range of our enforcement powers to make gambling fairer and safer. This was a systemic failing at William Hill that went on for nearly two years, and today’s penalty package – which could exceed £6.2 million – reflects the seriousness of the breaches.”
“Gambling businesses have a responsibility to ensure that they keep crime out of gambling and tackle problem gambling, and as part of that they must be constantly curious about where the money they are taking is coming from,” he added.
