The Gambling Commission announced today (5 November) that NetBet must pay a £650,000 penalty for an array of anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.
The money, earmarked for socially responsible causes, will be paid to the Commission as part of a regulatory settlement following an investigation that revealed a host of violations.
It follows a streak of recent enforcement activity, including through licence suspensions for both crash games pioneer SPRIBE, for lacking the correct hosting approval, and the land-based Victoria Gate Casino in Leeds, for a slew of anti-money laundering breaches.
John Pierce, Commission director of enforcement, said: “This case highlights the serious consequences of failing to meet anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations. We expect all operators to take note and ensure their systems are not only well-designed but are working effectively to protect consumers and to keep crime out of gambling.
“The operator was instructed to take immediate action and make significant improvements to its systems and controls. This included strengthening their risk assessments, improving how they identify and respond to indicators of harm, and ensuring the accuracy of the data they report to us.”
Commission details array of NetBet AML and RG breaches
In terms of AML breaches, the UK gambling regulator outlined the licensee was overly reliant on financial triggers, with examples of customers being able to spend disproportionally to their net income.
There were also examples of significant gambling activity taking place where, despite the operator classifying customers as low risk, concerning behaviours were demonstrated.
Meanwhile, NetBet’s money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment omitted some key risks, including the management of third-party business relationships, high stakes gambling and controls relating to third-country nationals residing in the UK.
On the social responsibility side, the business was slammed for not implementing effective customer interaction systems and processes in a way which minimised the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.
The Commission added indicators of harm – such as overnight play, velocity of deposits/exhausting limits and escalated gameplay – were not identified in a timely manner and were often only identified once a manual review had taken place.
Finally, NetBet also submitted inaccurate information when filing regulatory returns
Pierce continued: “Alongside the £650,000 financial penalty, the operator is also required to commission an independent audit of its policies, procedures, and controls to ensure the necessary improvements they have implemented are properly embedded and remain effective in practice.
“Our focus is on ensuring operators meet the standards we expect, and where they fall short, we will intervene.”
