The UK Gambling Commission has fined gambling operator LeoVegas £1.32 million for multiple failures.
The group, which runs leovegas.com, slotsboss.co.uk, and pinkcasino.co.uk, amongst others, has received an official warning and penalty after the Gambling Commission discovered social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
According to the Commission, LeoVegas set spend triggers for Safer Gambling Team customer reviews higher than the average customer’s spend and set six hours as the point at which customers were made to take a 45-minute cool-off period.
The operator also failed to act in accordance with their own policy of interacting with customers exhibiting indicators of harm, and failed to sufficiently take into account the Commission’s 2019 guidance on customer interaction.
Regarding anti-money laundering failures, the Commission found that financial triggers for anti-money laundering reviews were too high and unrealistic to effectively manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
LeoVegas also reportedly relied too heavily on ineffective threshold triggers and inadequate information regarding how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on their income or wealth.
As a result of the above failings, the Commission has issued the fine to LeoVegas along with an official warning. The operator will also undergo an audit to ensure it’s effectively implementing anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies, controls, and procedures.
Leanne Oxley, the Gambling Commission Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said in a statement: “We identified this through focused compliance activity and we will continue to take action against other operators if they do not learn the lessons our enforcement work is providing.
“This case is a further example of operators failing to protect customers and failing to be alive to money laundering risks within their business.”
The news comes as the Gambling Commission licensed new game developers, including Leap Gaming and PopOK Gaming. Meanwhile, it’s also suspended Bet-at-home.com and Goldchip’s operating licenses.
