The UK Gambling Commission has fined casino site Mr Green for regulatory failures.
The regulatory firm announced the news this week, revealing that it had issued a £3 million fine to the online casino after the Commission found that it had failed to implement effective procedures aimed at preventing money laundering and harm to customers.
According to the Commission, Mr Green is the ninth gambling firm to face prosecution as part of the Gambling Commission’s regulatory investigation that has led to over £20 million in penalties since 2018. Now, William Hill, which acquired Mr Green last year, has been instructed to pay the £3 million penalty to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
The Gambling Commission states that Mr Green failed to carry out social responsibility interaction with a customer who won £5,000, gambled the money and then deposited thousands of more pounds. The online casino was also found to have accepted ten-year-old evidence of a £176,000 claims payout as satisfactory evidence for source of funds regarding a customer who had deposited over £1 million.
The Commission also found that Mr Green had accepted a photograph of a laptop screen showing currency in dollars on a crypto trading account as satisfactory source of funds evidence.
The Gambling Commission’s Executive Director Richard Watson said in a statement: “Our investigation uncovered systemic failings in respect of both Mr Green’s social responsibility and AML controls which affected a significant number of customers across its online casinos.
“Consumers in Britain have the right to know that there are checks and balances in place which will help keep them safe and ensure gambling is crime-free – and we will continue to crack down on operators who fail in this area.”
Since the Gambling Commission launched its regulatory probe into the gambling industry, six operators have surrendered their license and no longer offer gambling services within the UK. During the investigations into the nine most serious operating license cases, the Commission examined the action of 22 Personal Management License holders.
Of the 22, six surrendered their license, six received a formal warning, one received advice to conduct, seven investigations are still ongoing and no further action was taken against two other license holders.
The investigation into license holders comes as part of the Commission’s move to raise standards within the industry. The regulatory firm announced last month that credit cards will be banned at casinos from April. It’s also been pushing for tighter regulations around VIP schemes, advertising and is currently looking at online slot bet limits.
