This week the UK Gambling Commission announced that they've levied a massive £6.1 million fine against gaming operator In Touch Games for various anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.
The company was found to have breached UK gambling licencing conditions 12.1.1 paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 for anti-money laundering policies as well as breaching the country's Social Responsibility Code Provision (SRCP) 3.4.1 Customer Interaction - paragraphs 1b, 1c and 2 for social responsibility. The failings came after the UKGC initiated a compliance assessment of In Touch.
During the assessment, In Touch Games was found to have not been interacting with a customer that exhibited erratic play patterns and extended periods of play for seven weeks. They also were found to have not verified a customer's claim that they earned £6,000 per month, despite exhibiting at-risk behaviour.
ITG also had multiple anti-money laundering policy failures, such as not taking into account links to high-risk jurisdictions, being politically exposed persons, and and being the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. The company was found to not have policies in place to combat these areas of concern, and they furthermore didn't take into account the UKGC's advice on the matter.
In Touch Games operates eleven betting sites in the UK, including: Cashmo, Slot Factory, Dr Slot, Casino 2020, Mr Spin, mFortune, and Pocketwin.
The UKGC issued a statement on the fine, with Executive Director of Operations Kay Roberts noting: "Considering this operator's history of failings, we expected to see significant improvement when we carried out our planned compliance assessment. Disappointingly, although many improvements had been made, there was still more to do.
"This £6.1m fine shows that we will take escalating enforcement action where failures are repeated, and all licensees should be acutely aware of this."