Interactive

Gibraltar – 888 suspends VIP activities in certain markets

By Phil - 31 January 2023

888, owner of 888casino, 888sport, 888poker, William Hill and Mr Green, has announced the suspension of VIP activities in certain of its .com markets pending the outcome of an internal compliance investigation.

Following an internal compliance review, it has come to light that certain best practices have not been followed in regard to KYC (Know Your Client) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes for 888 VIP customers in the Middle East region.

While further internal investigations are underway, the Board has taken the decision to suspend VIP customer accounts in the region, effective immediately. The Board currently estimates that the impact is less than three per cent of Group revenues, should the suspensions remain in place. Based on the Board’s current understanding, the process deficiencies identified are isolated to this region only.

“The Board and I take the Group’s compliance responsibilities incredibly seriously,” said Lord Mendelsohn, Chair. “When we were alerted to issues with some of 888’s VIP customers, the Board took decisive actions. We will be uncompromising in our approach to compliance as we build a strong and sustainable business.”

The news follows the departure of former CEO Itai Pazner. He had been at the company since January 2001 as a marketing manager before taking on regional management positions and ten becoming Senior Vice President.

Lord Mendelsohn remarked: “On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Itai for his significant contributions to the business over more than 20 years, including the last four as CEO. Itai has played a very important role in building a business with powerful proprietary technology, and has overseen successful early stages to the William Hill integration process. We wish him well in his future endeavours.”

888 also announced that the Board and Yariv Dafna, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, have agreed that he will remain in his posts until the end of 2023, rather than stepping down on 31 March 2023.

888 added that Andria Vidler will take over as Chair of the ESG Committee with immediate effect. The company is expecting to announce post-close trading results for 2022 of £1.85bn, down three per cent with EBITDA of between £305 to £316m