UKGC Imposes £6M Fine on Casumo

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has imposed a fine of £6m on online casino firm Casumo for breaching anti-money laundering rules and failing to ensure that players were gambling responsibly.

Social responsibility failings included:

Not putting into effect policies and procedures for customer interaction where it has concerns that a customer’s activity may indicate problem gambling, and this resulted in:

One customer losing £1.1m over three years without being subject to a responsible gambling interaction.

A second customer losing £65,000 in one month without being subject to a responsible gambling interaction.

A third customer losing £76,000 over seven months without being subject to a responsible gambling interaction.

Not taking into account the Commission’s guidance on customer interaction, and this resulted in:

The operator not carrying out a responsible gambling interaction on a customer who lost £89,000 in a five-hour period.

The operator not carrying out a responsible gambling interaction on a customer who lost £59,000 in a 90-minute period.

Anti-money laundering failings included:

• Customers were allowed to deposit significant sums of money without sufficient AML checks being conducted.
• Source of Funds (SOF) checks were insufficient. Payslips and invoices presented as evidence of SOF were not corroborated with bank statements (or other evidence).
• Bank statements produced were not assessed appropriately. Examples include incomplete bank statements which only showed credits into the customer’s account. The balance figures on a customer’s bank statement had been redacted.
• Inadequate checks of documentation for authenticity.
• No assessment or limit of how much a customer should be allowed to spend based on known income, wealth or any other risk factors.
• Winnings from other gambling operators were accepted as SOF, without further investigation.
• Not ensuring that its policies, procedures and controls were implemented effectively, kept under review, revised appropriately to ensure that they remain effective and take into account any applicable learning or guidelines published by the Commission from time to time.

Also, Casumo has received an official warning and is now required to call in independent auditors to ensure that the firm is fully complying with the terms of their license and codes of conduct (LCCP).

“This case was brought about through 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,” Richard Watson, Executive Director of UKGC, said.