Interactive

UK – Stakers surrenders its UK online operating licence rather than pay fine

Stakers has now surrendered its UK operating licence and has ceased its GB operations with all GB customers having already had their funds refunded.

The casino and betting site took an early decision that it would prefer to cease operating in Great Britain rather than pay a financial penalty. On April 13 2021, First-Tier Tribunal Judge Aleksander issued his written decision dismissing Stakers appeal against the suspension of its operating licence. As a result, Stakers has now surrendered its operating licence.

Richard Williams, Solicitor at Joelson who represented Stakers, stated: “Unfortunately, the Tribunal refused Stakers initial application to stay the suspension of its licence, which meant that by the time the appeal was heard, Stakers remote casino business in Great Britain was effectively extinguished. Stakers’ appeal covered a significant number of regulatory issues and alleged compliance failings. During investigations by the Commission, Stakers questioned whether the Gambling Act 2005 permitted it to compel operators to participate in compliance assessments via Skype.”

“In his judgement, the Judge stated that whilst he considered assessments by Skype to be lawful for production of documents and records, the Gambling Act 2005 does not require operators to display their live operational environments to the Commission via Skype. Nor does the Act require operators to provide test accounts to the Commission.”

“In relation to cautioning of participants prior to compliance assessments, the Judge ruled that he did not consider that the Commission’s officers were required to caution individuals under PACE prior to recorded compliance assessments undertaken via Skype, even though evidence of compliance failings could be a criminal offence under the Act.”

“The Tribunal took 6 months from the final hearing to issue its decision and in total, it took 12 months from the initial suspension of the licence, until the Tribunal’s final decision was made. That’s a long time for a licence to be suspended. Operators whose licence has been suspended, even where they do not agree with the Commission about alleged regulatory failings, will understand that appealing a suspension to the First-tier Tribunal may not be a viable option if they want to keep their business open.”