Legislation
Alderney – Daub Alderney fined £7.1m for breach of Commission rules
By Phil - 14 November 2018
Online gambling business Daub Alderney will pay a £7.1m fine for failing to follow UK Gambling Commission rules aimed at preventing money laundering and protecting vulnerable consumers.
Daub Alderney will also have extra conditions placed on its licence to provide gambling to consumers in Britain.
Richard Watson, Gambling Commission Executive Director, said: “This action is part of an ongoing investigation into the online casino sector. The operator’s standards did not match the protections required, and this fine reflects the seriousness of these lapses.”
On January 12 2018 the Gambling Commission (the Commission) gave Daub Alderney Limited (the Licensee) notice that it was commencing a review of its operating licence. We commenced a review under section 116(2) of the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) because it had reason to suspect that activities may have been carried on in purported reliance on the licence but not in accordance with a condition of the licence.
The Regulatory Panel has found that the licensee breached conditions of its licence relating to anti-money laundering measures (AML) and failed to comply with social responsibility codes of practice.
Daub accepted that it had breached this licence condition and subsequently provided a risk assessment approved by its Board on 23 February 2018. The Licensee mitigated that it had carried out internal audits and reviews during 2016/2017 which it considered tantamount to a risk assessment.
The Licensee accepted that at the time of the corporate evaluation, it had not been compliant with the 2007 Regulations and was not compliant with the 2017 Regulations. It agreed that it had failed to document in adequate detail its risk-sensitive policies and procedures relating to anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing.
In addition the Licensee accepted that whilst it was subject to the 2007 Regulations, improvements could have been made to the training provided to staff in how to recognise and deal with transactions and other activities which may relate to money laundering or terrorist financing. The Licensee stated that at the time of the corporate evaluation it had recognised the need for a training program which it had put in place and that by September 2017 appropriate additional training was in place.
