Renowned William Hill-owned online casino operator Mr Green has recently been slapped with a £3 million penalty by the UK Gambling Commission. The gambling commission fined the operator for its failures to comply with the regulations that have been laid out by the authority in order to protect both the consumers and the operators.
The UKGC has been pretty aggressive in its bid to clean up the country’s online gambling industry. As it stands, Mr Green is the 9th gambling operator in the country to be fined by the gambling commission. As many as six operators have had their licenses to operate in the country revoked with the remaining ones being forced to part with as much as £20 million in penalty packages sine 2018. Moreover, there are still several ongoing investigations that imply that we might get even more news about fines or revoked licenses.
Mr Green’s Failings
According to the UK Gambling Commission’s Thursday press release, an investigation had revealed that Mr Green had allowed certain systematic failures with regards to its social responsibility and anti-money laundering controls. This had, in turn, resulted in significant impacts on their customer base.
Some of the most notable instances included a situation where they failed to freeze the account of one player who had won £50,000 and gambled it away before proceeding to deposit even more sums of money. Another notable one was an instance when the casino accepted a decade-old document that showed a £176,000 claims payout as evidence of source of funds for one of its customers who deposited over £1 million.
These were definitely bound to raise eyebrows and it is great to know that the UK’s gambling regulator still has the public’s well-being at heart despite all the criticism it has been facing of late.
“Consumers in Britain have the right to know that there are check and balances in place which will help keep them safe and ensure gambling is crime-free – and we will continue to crack down on operators who fail in this area,” Richard Watson, the UK Gambling Commission’s chief executive said.
Mr Green Responds
The company has since agreed to pay the £3 million fine to the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. Owning up to the mistake is definitely a great way of regaining the trust of both the consumers and the gambling regulator.
Luckily, William Hill, which currently owns the casino operator, is not likely to face any repercussions. As Mr Green’s officials have explained, the failings in question happened long before William hill acquired the casino. Moreover, they have also added that a lot of things have been changed including anti-money laundering checks as well as various processes relating to social responsibility.
