White Hat Gaming, a major operator of UK casinos, has been sanctioned by the UK Gambling Commission and will pay more than £1 million towards the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms rather than paying a fine.
The sanction comes after the UKGC investigated just seven accounts held with the company. The investigation focused on customers who were at risk of problem gambling behaviours or who might be at risk of money laundering.
The UK Gambling Commission is the only gambling regulator in the UK. It handles the licensing of all betting products, including internet gambling licences. In the past, the UK recognised licences from other regulators, but these days it is illegal to play games or to offer gambling games that do not have a UK Gambling Commission licence.
There is considerable pressure on legislators to tighten up gambling regulation in the UK. There has been an explosion of internet gambling in recent years. Perhaps the most visible impact of this boom has been advertising. Almost every club in the football league and Premier League seems to be sponsored by an internet casino, and adverts for gambling are a major part of TV sports coverage.
This sanction of White Hat might be good news for players, who can take heart from the UKGC’s conclusion that the operation has “led to the operator overhauling its approach to social responsibility and the prevention of money laundering”.
The details of the investigation have been released.
The failures found at White Hat amounted to inadequate anti-money laundering and social responsibility procedures according to the UKGC.
A customer who lost £70,000 in three months was able to do so without providing sufficient proof of where the funds came from.
A second customer lost £50,000 in six hours without the company providing adequate checks. A third gambled away £85,000 in just over an hour.
The UKGC says that the investigation dates back to a compliance assessment from March 2019, when problems were found at four websites: www.grandivy.com, www.21casino.com, www.hellocasino.com and www.dreamvegas.com.
The UKGC statement says:
“White Hat Gaming cooperated with our enquiries throughout the course of the investigation, and has accepted that its policies and procedures in respect of AML and safer gambling were not adequate, and that it failed to act in accordance with conditions on its operating licence between October 2016 and March 2019.”
White Hat are now overhauling those parts of its policies that were found inadequate and their sites should have new safety procedures in place for players soon. This will include automated checks on spending over certain limits, more checks on customers for safe gambling behaviour, better procedures to check the source of funds for players, and a review of anti-money-laundering processes.
This is good news for players, but it is also a stark reminder that for all the controls and support the industry puts in place a lot of responsibility still falls on individuals who may be vulnerable or at risk, as well as those who are trying to use the industry for illegitimate transactions. Players do need to be aware of safe gambling behaviours, and that includes monitoring their own behaviour and knowing that help is there if they reach out.
