Gambling company Entain has been fined £17 million (€20.2 million) by the UK Gambling Commission after an investigation uncovered social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures at its online and land-based businesses.
Online customer living in social housing deposited £186k without any source of funds checks
The Commission’s announcement reveals that Entain must pay £14 million (€16.6 million) for failings discovered at its online businesses run through LC International. The company runs 13 regulated websites in the UK including ladbrokes.com, foxybingo.com, and coral.co.uk.
The investigation also uncovered failures at the company’s land-based business, Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited. This business runs 2,746 betting shops across the UK. As a result of those failings, the Commission has fined the company a further £3 million (€3.5 million).
The combined fine is the largest financial penalty issued by the UKGC.
The social responsibility failures discovered include:
- Limited interactions with potential problem gamblers — one gambler had only one chat interaction despite depositing £230,845 (€274,564) over an 18-month period.
- Allowing restricted customers to open multiple accounts with the company’s other brands — one customer who was banned on Coral for failing to supply source of funds details opened and account with Ladbrokes and deposited £30,000 (€35,681) in a single day.
- Failing to escalate potential concerns over a betting shop customer that wagered £29,372 (€34,882.93) and lost £11,345 (€13,494) in a single month. Another customer wagered £173,285 (€206,105) and lost £27,753 (€33,009) in a year and was not contacted.
Anti-money laundering failures discovered include:
- Failing to conduct an adequate risk assessment of online business being used for money laundering and terrorist financing
- Allowing large online deposits without adequate checks – this included deposits of £742,000 (€882,028) in 14 months from one customer and £186,000 (€221,101) in deposits over six months from a customer living in social housing.
- Slow due diligence checks – one online customer was allowed to deposit £524,501 (€623,425) in less than a year before the account was closed for failing to provide source of funds details.
- Being reliant on open-source information – one customer deposited £140,700 (€167,237) in less than a year with their source of wealth verified by open-source information.
- allowing shop customers to wager large amounts of money without checks – one betting shop customer wagered £168,000 (€199,696) on shop terminals over eight months before any due diligence checks.
According to the Gambling Commission, all monies collected from the fines will go directly towards socially responsible programs.
Alongside the fines, Entain will now have additional conditions added to its licenses and must undergo an independent audit within 12 months to ensure that it is following its licensing guidelines.
Andrew Rhodes, Gambling Commission chief executive, said:
“Our investigation revealed serious failures that have resulted in the largest enforcement outcome to date. There were completely unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures. Operators are reminded they must never place commercial considerations over compliance.
This is the second time this operator has fallen foul of rules in place to make gambling safer and crime free. They should be aware that we will be monitoring them very carefully and further serious breaches will make the removal of their licence to operate a very real possibility. We expect better and consumers deserve better.”
Fans of the show “Black Mirror” will appreciate Entain recently taking to social-media to celebrate being the recipient of a rather dubious “award” for their “commitment” to responsible gambling.
View More Gambling Industry fines.
Olivia has worked as an editor and writer for major brands across multiple niches. She now focuses on the iGaming and sports betting industries.