The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has fined gambling operator Spreadex Limited £1.36 million for multiple failures.
According to the UKGC, the operator, which runs spreadex.com, was found to have failed in following its anti-money laundering and social responsibility licencing conditions.
The UKGC found that Spreadex Limited’s financial alerts were ineffective and allowed customers to lose significant amounts of money over short periods of time.
The Commission notes that the operator placed an overreliance on financial alerts to identify customers at potential risk of experiencing harm, and failed to sufficiently record and evaluate its customer interactions.
Alongside the above, the UKGC found that one customer was able to deposit £1.7 million and lose £500,000 over a one-month period. Although customer interactions had taken place, they had not been sufficiently evaluated.
The UKGC states that Spreadex Limited increased a customer’s financial deposit alert from £25,000 to £100,000 based on a self-declaration of income and an open-source check.
The operator also, as reported by the Commission, allowed a customer to deposit £365,000 and lose £284,000 over a three-month period without sufficiently conducting a Source Of Funds check.
Finally, the operator reportedly allowed a customer to continue making deposits after providing redacted bank statements as part of their Source Of Funds check.
According to the UKGC, Spreadex Limited has been fined £1.36 million as a result of the failures, and the money will be paid to socially responsible causes as part of a settlement with the Commission.
Leanne Oxley, the Gambling Commission Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, said in a statement: “Whilst it is disappointing to see anti-money laundering and social responsibility breaches occur despite our extensive published cases highlighting similar failures, we note the swift and robust action the licensee took to bring itself back to compliance.
“We expect similar commitment and engagement across the gambling sector.”
The news comes after the UK Gambling Commission fined operator Entain £17 million for multiple failings, fined betting exchange operator Smarkets £630,000, and fined LeoVegas £1.32 million.
