This week UK gambling retail and online group William Hill was slapped with a huge £6.2 million fine for failing to prevent money laundering and protect players.
The fine was laid down by the UK Gambling Commission, which revealed that the gambling firm had a systemic failure of upper management to comply with social responsibility and money laundering regulations that were put in place. The alleged violations occurred from between November 2014 and August 2016. The regulator claims that the senior management at Will Hill didn't put the proper amount of staff in place to ensure that regulations were being followed effectively.
The violations saw ten different William Hill customers to launder money, which generated £1.2 million in revenue for the company. The company didn't seek information on the source of this money, violating the law.
The fine is £5 million for breaching the rules, and the company will have to shed the £1.2 million they made from the transactions.
The UKGC's Executive Director Neil McArthur spoke about the violations, noting: "We will use the full range of our enforcement powers to make gambling fairer and safer. This was a systemic failing at William Hill which went on for nearly two years and today's penalty package - which could exceed £6.2m - reflects the seriousness of the breaches."
"Gambling businesses have a responsibility to ensure that they keep crime out of gambling and tackle problem gambling - and as part of that they must be constantly curious about where the money they are taking is coming from."
Comments
Right on UK Gambling Commission, it's nice to read the eyes in the sky are still watching over us players. As far as William Hill goes, I've noticed a ton of promotion offers lately, both deposit and no deposit alike. Every day, every week, with these must drop jackpot slots. I wonder what they're stocking up for by sucking all these players in to play all of a sudden eh ? ? ?
William Hill sucks. It makes me happy to see them given a big fine.
Good to know, I just hope they close soon.