The UK Gambling Commission has fined online gambling operator Greentube, which runs admiralcasino.co.uk, £1 million (€1,193,188 / $1,229,141) as a result of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
In its announcement, the UKGC confirmed that the money will be paid directly to socially responsible causes as part of the settlement.
The investigation found the company had breached its licensing conditions as follows:
- Basing customer limits on one-off or irregular forms of income as opposed to regular, sustainable income
- Failing to ensure documents customers supplied were genuine
- Failing to identify indicators of vulnerability
- Delays in the identification and potential escalation of money laundering and/or terrorist financing risks.
- Failing to identify “risky occupations” during AML checks.
Examples of breaches
In one instance a customer’s bank statement showed a negative opening and closing balance and included transactions to other gambling operators. However, the customer was only contacted after they had deposited £4,000 over four months.
A customer’s bank statement showed unusual transactions – including over £100,000 transferred in and out of the account and a negative closing balance. This was only brought to light four months after it was submitted.
In another instance there were no steps were taken to mitigate the increased risk of a ‘finance manager’ who had access to funds which could be misappropriated and laundered.
The operator also failed to flag and investigate an account which had the same address and surname as another customer (whose account was blocked). The clocked customer was known to have convictions for the supply of class A drugs.
John Pierce, Commission Director of Enforcement, said:
“This case arose from a follow-up compliance assessment designed to ensure the operator had continued to apply lessons learned from previous regulatory action.
While we noted that the business had made significant general improvements, further regulatory breaches were still identified. The operator was subsequently required to swiftly put in place an effective action plan designed to remedy all of the identified failings.
We want to remind all operators that any business found to breach rules designed to keep gambling safe and free from crime for a second time should expect increasingly stringent enforcement action. Any failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards is unacceptable, and today’s action reflects the gravity of the breaches identified.
We will continue to monitor this operator to ensure they consistently meet the required regulatory standards.”
This marks the second instance of regulatory action against Greentube. In 2021, the company was fined £685,000 following a Commission investigation that uncovered failures in social responsibility and anti-money laundering measures.
Olivia has worked as an editor and writer for major brands across multiple niches. She now focuses on the iGaming and sports betting industries.