This week's cautionary tale for the operators who take things too lightly comes from the good ol’ UK, where even the biggest of names get slapped on the wrist for not playing by the book.
One of the world's leading gambling brands, William Hill, made a few severe omissions that will cost them dearly - £6,2 million is the value of the fine determined by the UK Gambling Commission! The supplier will have to pay for breaching the rules catering for social responsibility and money laundering.
The UKGC revealed that, between November 2014 and August 2016, William Hill's upper management committed a series of violations leading to the breach of social responsibility and money laundering regulations. Part of the reason why this occurred, according to UKGC, is because William Hill did not appoint enough staff members who would monitor the proceedings of regulations in an effective manner. As a result, ten different players deposited money linked with criminal offences which generated a £1.2 million revenue for the operator who did not look for the source of the money – a fatal mistake!
One client- who lives in a rented flat earning £30,000 per year in the accounts department - deposited £654,000 over a period of nine months. Another one, who is accused for stealing from their employer, deposited £541,000 over 14 months. In both instances, William Hill management didn't carry out any checks.
For violating this regulation, the brand will need to return the £1.2 million they earned and pay the additional fine of £5 million.
Neil McArthur, UKGC's Executive Director, commented this breaching of the rules: “We will use the full range of our enforcement powers to make gambling fairer and safer. This was a systemic failing at William Hill which went on for nearly two years and today's penalty package - which could exceed £6.2m - 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.”
Source:
“William Hill to pay £6.2m penalty package for systemic social responsibility and money laundering failures”, gamblingcommission.gov.uk, February 20, 2018.
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