888 Holdings Hit by UKGC for £9.4 Million Fine

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This week it was announced that 888 Holdings was fined a staggering £9.4 million by the UK Gambling Commission after the regulator conducted an investigation and found a number of anti-money laundering policy and social responsibility failures.

The operator was found to have had a number of policies in place that were in conflict with UK regulations. One of the most egregious of these was a rule where punters could deposit £40,000 before checking the sources of funds. There also weren't any SOF documentation policies, and employees tasked with checking funding sources accepted verbal assurances that funds were legit.

Additionally, the company was found to have customer interaction standards that were below standard. 888 also failed to reach out to customers that lost large sums of money, including a punter who lost £37,000 in six weeks during the Covid-19 pandemic. They also reportedly gave a worker who earned £1,400 per month a monthly deposit cap of £1,300.

"The circumstances of the last enforcement action may be different but both cases involve failing consumers - and this is something that is not acceptable," said UKGC Chief Executive Andrew Rhodes. "Today's fine is one of our largest to date, and all should be clear that if there is a repeat of the failures at 888 then we have to seriously consider the suitability of the operator to uphold the licensing objectives and keep gambling safe and crime-free.

"Consumers in Britain deserve to know that when they gamble, they are participating in a leisure activity where operators play their part in keeping them."

This isn't the first fine for 888, as the company was previously fined £7.8 million in 2017 by the UKGC for failing to protect vulnerable players.

Time will tell if this latest fine will see the company fall into compliance.

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About the author

Therese Williams // UK Correspondent
Therese Williams
Therese is a fervent fan of slot machines and pub fruities, often trying her luck at some of the top online casinos. She covers news for Casino Listings with a focus on the UK and Europe. Therese studied arts and creative writing at university and has written for newspapers in the UK.