Legislation
UK – UK Gambling Commission takes regulatory action against Daub Alderney
By Phil - 1 September 2021
Gambling operators are being warned that they will face the full consequences of regulatory failures even if breaches occurred prior to ownership. The warning comes as Daub Alderney is issued with a £5.85m fine after a Gambling Commission investigation revealed social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
Daub Alderney – which runs aspers.com, kittybingo.com, luckypantsbingo.com, luckyvip.com, magicalvegas.com, regalwins.com and spinandwin.com – has also received a formal warning for the failures which occurred between January 2019 and March 2020. Social responsibility failings included neglecting to put into effect policies and procedures for customer interaction where it has concerns that a customer’s activity may indicate problem gambling.
One customer was allowed to lose £43,410 in four months despite displaying problem gambling harm indicators such as using 4 different payment cards in one day and reversing £133,873 in requested withdrawals. During a month-long relationship a second customer lost £40,500 but the operator sent the consumer just two safer gambling messages and a pop up which were not evaluated for effectiveness. During a three-and-a-half month period a third customer lost £39,000 but received just one safer gambling message and two pop ups which were not evaluated for effectiveness.
Anti-money laundering failures at Daub Alderney included having inappropriate policies, procedures and controls in place to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. One customer was allowed to deposit £50,000 before the operator sought source of funds evidence. A second customer was allowed to deposit £41,500 in a month without supplying adequate source of funds evidence. Over an eight-month period a third customer was allowed to lose £53,000 but during that time the only source of funds evidence obtained by the operator was to establish that the customer lived in a house estimated to be worth £233k.
Helen Venn, Commission Executive Director, said: “This case was the result of planned compliance activity and every operator out there should be aware that we will continue to take firm action against those who fail to raise standards.”
Ms Venn said that the Commission recognised that a good proportion of these failures occurred before Rank took control of the business in October 2019 and that there had been improvements since acquisition.
But she added: “The Licensee’s culpability, and the requisite penalty reflecting that culpability, cannot be affected by the fact that its shares have now passed from one set of investors to another. The Licensee does not escape or mitigate the consequences of its actions because its shares are sold.”
