The investigation revealed that Daub Alderney, which part of the Stride Group, acquired by Rank Group in October 2019, did not have appropriate measures in place to detect or prevent problem gambling in a series of incidents that took place between January 2019 and March 2020.
In one instance, a Daub Alderney customer lost £45,410 in a four month period while displaying signs of problem gambling behaviour, including using four separate payment cards in one day and reversing £133,873 in withdrawals.
Another occasion saw Daub Alderney send just two safer gambling reminders and one pop-up to a customer who had spent £40,500.
It was also found that Daub Alderney had ineffective policies for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.
Examples included issues with source of funds evidence, such as Daub Alderney not asking for this evidence from a customer that had deposited £41,500, and only asked for evidence of funds from a different customer after they had deposited £50,000.
In addition, Daub Alderney was issued with a formal warning.
“This case was the result of 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,” said Helen Venn, executive director of the Gambling Commission.
“The licensee’s culpability, and the requisite penalty reflecting that culpability, cannot be affected by the fact that its shares have now passed from one set of investors to another,” said Venn, emphasizing that the failures took place before Rank Group took control of Daub Alderney in October 2019.
“The Licensee does not escape or mitigate the consequences of its actions because its shares are sold.”
The Commission said the decision is subject to appeal.
Daub Alderney had previously received a £7.1m fine in 2018 when a corporate evaluation found that “appropriate risk assessment was not in place”.
